You'll Always Be In My Dreams
by Vampire Pirate Princess
Summary: "She took me and drug me away from the house; she compelled me to leave and forced me to desert Damon to fight alone. Then, when she compelled me to sleep, I dreamed of Damon.  It was a normal dream, nothing too fantastic, in fact nothing at all. But then, Damon walked in and he was so worried, so concerned. He only wanted to know that I was safe." Set after 2x10. Delena dreaminess
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This takes place after S2 E10 The Sacrifice with the small exception that Stefan isn't in the tomb with Katherine and Rose came back to the Boarding House after she ran away from Slater's apartment. Everything after that is different. This is my first story and I would love to know what you think. This first chapter just gets everything rolling. I promise it gets better. Please read and review. I would love your opinions.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** or the characters. This is just for fun.**

After Damon had brought me back home from Slater's, I sat in my room and tried to write in my diary, but I just couldn't find the right words to write. My diary just rested in front of me, the pen gently cradled in between the open pages. Discouraged, I tried to call Stefan, but it went straight to his voicemail. Standing, I placed my diary back in its hiding spot behind the picture frame over my headboard, and sighing, I looked around my empty room once before I grabbed my keys off the dresser, ran down the stairs, jumped in my car and drove to the Boarding House.

When I arrived, the front door was unlocked, and I called first for Stefan, then Damon, but neither answered. I searched for them through the desolate house in vain. As I wandered through the empty rooms of the Boarding House, I went to the library, expecting to see Damon sitting with a glass of alcohol in his hand, but I only found a fire crackling in the fireplace. One of the Salvatores must have forgotten it and left it burning in the hearth. The library was warmed by the large fire, keeping the frigid winter air that threatened to creep into the walls at bay, and its soft glow lit the room, creating eerie shadows that danced off the walls. I stood alone in the room for a moment, leaning on the wall, watching the fire burn. When I was finally able to pull my eyes from the glowing embers, I pushed myself off the wall and headed upstairs. In Stefan's room, I found a small note resting on his pillow, as though Stefan knew I would be here.

_Elena,_

_I've gone hunting in the woods. I shouldn't be out late. I think Damon and Rose went to get more blood bags. They will probably be back before me. Make yourself at home._

_I love you._

_Stefan_

Smiling, I had wondered if Stefan often left notes for me. I hadn't told him I would be coming by, but he had taken the considerate precaution to tell me where he was on the chance I might show up. My Stefan, I thought to myself,always so loving and considerate. I pocketed the note and then made my way back down stairs. The house was uncomfortably chilly, so I returned to the heated library and browsed through the countless books in the Salvatore library. I found myself aimlessly reading the titles, many with foreign names, most of which I guessed were Italian. Finally, after I grew bored with the books, I lay on the couch on the lower level of the library watching the fire dance hypnotically in front of me. Leaning back, I closed my eyes and just listened to the calming popping of the fire.

I don't know how long I rested there before I felt the couch shift under me. Jumping slightly, brought out of my light slumber, my eyes shot open, searching for whoever had joined me.

Damon now sat at the opposite end of the couch, one arm on the back of the couch, the other lazily resting on the armrest. He was clad in his typical black everything, and both hands held a glass filled with a gold-ish liquid. I relaxed back into the couch as his classic smirk graced his face. Without a word, Damon offered one of the glasses to me, holding it out for me. I looked at it for a moment before I shook my head and sunk back further into the couch.

"Suit yourself," Damon said after he downed one of the glasses in a single gulp. He placed it in the empty space of the couch that separated us. He leaned back and threw his legs on the ottoman in front of him. After the speech he tried to give me this evening on the porch, I half expected him to bring up what had happened earlier today, but he remained quiet.

"When did you get back?" I asked.

Damon took a swig of his alcohol before answering, "About ten minutes ago."

I nodded.

"Where's Stefan?" Damon inquired.

"He went hunting."

Damon didn't reply, just sunk deeper into the couch.

We sat quietly, both of us watching the burning wood in the fireplace in a comfortable silence. Neither of us said a thing. Damon didn't bring up my stupidity for going to Slater, and I didn't try to justify trying to save my loved ones. We remained in the quiet, knowing if we said anything, it would make no difference now. The house was silent around us, a peaceful calm to which both of us were unaccustomed. We sat and enjoyed the brief tranquility the world rarely offered.

"What time is it?" I asked after a few minutes.

Damon pulled the sleeve of his black leather jacket to reveal a gold watch. "It is just a little after midnight," he stated simply, looking over to me, his arm returning to the side of the couch.

"Seriously? I was asleep for longer than I thought… Stefan's not back yet?" I asked, worried. I felt something stir in my chest. A deep dread was starting to build inside me quickly. It wasn't like Stefan to be out this late.

A loud crash sounded from the next room. Suddenly the warm air created by the fire was slaughtered by a wave of spine chilling cold air. I sat up a little straighter, wrapping my arms around myself, searching the room for the source of the commotion, the fear in my chest growing larger. Damon was already on his feet, standing in front of me, looking around with caution.

Something crashed on the other side of the room. Damon turned toward the noise sharply. Something began to move around us at an inhuman speed, and I stood up, gripping Damon's arm, staying behind him.

"Rose?" Damon called into the house.

After a moment, the British vampire appeared in the doorway. Her hair was spiked and slightly curled at the ends. Her brown eyes shot from Damon to me. She took in our postures quickly, but before she could say anything, another crash sounded from somewhere in the house.

"What's going on?" she asked, moving closer to us, almost mirroring Damon's wary stance.

"I don't know," Damon answered.

Then everything seemed to come to a complete stop for the tiniest moment. The air didn't move; the fire was silent; nothing happened; the only sound I could hear was the loud thump of my heart in my ears.

Then my scream shattered through the still air as a hand wrapped around my throat, and I felt a rush of wind around me. Suddenly I wasn't standing behind Damon. I was pressed tightly against a broad chest, and the hand was choking me painfully, cutting off the air to my lungs. We were standing across the room from Damon and Rose. Six other vampires appeared from behind the one that held me, and I wanted to scream, to fight the vampire holding me, to defend myself.

Damon growled, "Let her go now, and I might consider killing you all quickly."

This scared me nearly as much as the vampire holding me did. Damon was strong, but he couldn't take on six vampires, some of which were double his size. Rose could probably help put up a good fight, but she was too prone to flight in the face of danger.

Without a word, all six of the vampires attacked Damon. I could barely see any of them as they began to move at vampire speed around the room, traveling too fast for the human eye to follow, but I was able to track their path of destruction. Books clattered to the floor as someone was thrown into one of the bookshelves. A table was overturned, and a chair was broken into millions of pieces. I feared the type of damage six vampires could inflict on Damon or Rose with any of the wood from the wreckage.

Rose was trying to pull the vampires from Damon, for once not running, but there were too many of them to handle. The sound of ripping flesh filled the room, and the smell of blood was overwhelming. I wanted to help, to do anything, but I could barely even breathe. I tried to claw myself free from the grip but to no avail.

"Rose!" I heard Damon's voice over the fighting, "Get Elena out of here!"

In seconds, Rose was in front of me, her face covered in pulsing veins, her eyes reds, and her fangs barred. She ripped the hand from my throat. I fell to the floor, gasping for air.

Rose's hand plunged into the vampire's chest and ripped out its heart. He fell next to me, a lifeless heap on the floor. I stared into his empty eyes as he turned grey, and as I looked at him, in my mind, I could see the chilling picture of Damon lying dead on the floor just like this vampire.

Rose reached down and picked me up without much effort. Planted back on my own two feet, I surveyed the room around us. Everything was turning into shambles.

"Rose we have to do something," I pleaded, desperate to make sure Damon wasn't killed. "We have to help him."

"Elena, you have to get out of here," Damon called from the mass of struggling vampires. Only two had fallen so far, but Damon still didn't have a chance. If he stayed, he wouldn't survive.

"No Damon!" I began running to him, to try anything that might help him.

"Rose, get her away from here. NOW!" Damon commanded.

Without hesitation, Rose grabbed my arm before I could take another step. I struggled, but she wouldn't let go.

"Rose, help him!" I commanded, still trying to break free even though I knew it was hopeless to struggle against a vampire with her strength. "They'll kill him."

With vampire speed, we were in the driveway of the Boarding House. Rose tried to force me into the passenger's seat of Damon's car, but I braced myself on the frame of the door and wouldn't let her push me inside.

"No, we can't leave him. Go help him, Rose." I yelled.

Rose turned me to face her. The look on her face stilled my efforts to fight for a moment and terrified me further.

"Elena, if we stay here, we'll all die. Those are Klaus's men in there. Now get in the car," she demanded.

"No," I replied, still fighting.

A look of pure rage crossed Rose's face. Without warning, she reached up and pulled the vervain from my neck. I gasped at her sudden movements, and she threw the necklace into the yard and grabbed my chin, forcing me to stare into her eyes.

"Get. In. The. Car," she compelled.

My body began moving against my will into the seat of the car. My head screamed, "Run. Help Damon." but every muscle in my body moved to follow Rose's command.

A second later, Rose was in the driver's seat, we were screeching away from the Boarding House, and after just two minutes, we were leaving Mystic Falls.

"What about Damon?" I asked, looking at her, amazed that she just left him. "And Stefan? What if they're still there when he gets home?" I began to panic, the picture of Damon lying dead on the library floor changing to include Stefan's motionless body next to him.

"I don't know, Elena," Rose admitted. "Right now we just need to get you away from any other vampires that could be around."

"So you're just going to leave Damon behind?"

Rose sighed and a hurt expression dominated her features. "Yes."

"But we can't ju-," I tried to say.

"Elena…," she turned in her seat and cut me off. "I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but right now I have to be able to focus to make sure we aren't being followed, and I can't do that if you keep telling me to go back. Go to sleep," she compelled again.

My eyes lids were suddenly extremely heavy. I wanted to stay awake, to act, to do something, not to sleep at a moment like this. But I couldn't; my eyes closed, and I fell into an endless darkness.

* * *

><p><em>The Grill was having a calm afternoon. Only a handful of tables had occupants and the bar was completely vacant. The waiting staff was standing in a corner, only occasionally looking up to check if they were needed.<em>

_I sat alone in a booth off to the side of the restaurant. Picking at my cold fries, I hunched over my history homework, paying little attention to everything around me._

_When I heard the door open, I looked up to see who was coming in, but no one stood in the doorway. Slightly perplexed, I turned my attention back to my table and jumped at the sight of Damon suddenly sitting across from me._

_"Damon, why do you always have to scare me?" I asked slowly, trying to slow my heartbeat._

_"How are you, Elena?" Damon asked, a serious and concerned look on his face that I had only ever seen when he was being protective._

_"Fine…?" I said, though it sounded like a question. I wasn't sure why he was looking at me like he was afraid I was in danger. We were just sitting in the Grill; there was nothing to be wary of._

_"Are you safe? Where are you?" he queried._

_"Damon, are you okay? What are you talking about?" He sounded like he was worried, but there was nothing to be worried about. I didn't know what was wrong with him._

_"Did Rose get you out of Mystic Falls? Are you safe?" he repeated._

_Then, I remembered. Flashes of the fight, leaving Damon to fend for himself, and Rose compelling me passed through my mind. I remembered falling asleep, but that was all._

_"I don't know," I whispered, understanding Damon's worry. My own fear began to rise in my chest. "Damon, what's going on?"_

_"You're dreaming," he affirmed._

_"What do you mean 'I'm dreaming'?" I asked, completely confused._

_"I can't explain right now," he stated shortly._

_"Are you all right?" I asked, hopeful._

_"Not exactly…" Damon looked around as if he could see something I couldn't. He turned back to me, his worry evident on his face. " Listen Elena, I need you to remember something for me. You have to remember to tell Rose that I have that place in Texas, the house I told her about; if you can get there, you should be fine, and I ne-"_

_"Wait Damon, what are you talking about?" I interrupted._

_"Elena, I need you to listen to Rose. She's been running from these vampires for centuries. She knows what she's doing. Listen to her. Can you do that?" he asked, his face serious._

_"Yes…" I conceded._

_"Good. In that case, I'll see you tomorrow night."_

_Then without another word, the world around us began to blur and fade until it disappeared._

**A/N: There's the first chapter. I promise it gets better. That was just to get everything started. I hoped you enjoyed it.**

**Follow me on twitter if you'd like to keep tabs on where I am with this story: Vampiratess.**

**Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So I just realized that during The Sacrifice Stefan winds up in the tomb with Katherine… Yeah so in this story that doesn't happen. I apologize for this tiny oversight, but everything else should be okay. If I did miss anything else, please feel free to tell me. Thank you for all the favorites and alerts. They help me write. Please review.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or the characters. This is just for fun.**

"Damon, wait," I called, opening my eyes, but he wasn't there.

I wasn't at the Grill; Damon wasn't with me. I was sitting in the passenger's seat of his car with his instructions ringing in my mind. Get to the house in Texas. Listen to Rose. The words echoed in my head. Then Damon's face invaded my mind. He had seemed so concerned and worried; it frightened me. I'd never seen Damon so worried about anything.

But it was only a dream, right? It couldn't have actually been Damon, could it? Everything else had seemed and felt like a dream, but he appeared to be so real.

"Good, you're awake," Rose's voice came from next to me, interrupting my thoughts.

I turned to see her with her attention focused on the road in front of her.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Just outside of Montgomery, Alabama," she said.

"How long was I asleep?"

Rose checked her watch before answering, "About nine hours."

"You compelled me," I said, not caring to hide the anger in my voice.

Rose sighed. "I'm sorry Elena, but we had to leave, and you weren't cooperating."

"You left Damon there to fight off six vampires," I almost yelled. "We should have helped him. How could you just leave him? And what about Stefan? What if the vampires killed Damon? Stefan either walked in to find his brother dead or an ambush from those vampires, maybe both."

"Elena," she had a hurt expression on her face as she spoke, "I'm sorry, but we had to leave," she repeated.

I just rolled my eyes and fumed in the silence for a minute. I was worried for both Salvatore brothers and prayed they were okay.

My thoughts wandered back to my dream, and I continued to question if dream Damon was real. For many minutes, I argued with myself about the possibility that Damon had somehow managed to invade my dream. Vampires were able to control your mind with compulsion. Who's to say they can't take over someone's dreams?

"Can vampires compel dreams?" I asked, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen over the car.

"That's a rather random inquiry," Rose stated, "but yes a vampire can enter a human's dreams. Sometimes they can enter another vampire's, but it requires either an extremely strong vampire or extremely weak one. Why do you ask?"

"I think Damon did while I was asleep," I said.

Rose thought for a minute. She frowned with her concentration, a small line creasing between her eyebrows. "Typically, the vampire has to be close to the dreamer. A few miles is farthest I've ever been able to handle, but I have heard of some vampire that could do it over great distances. What makes you think that you weren't just dreaming?"

"I don't know; it just seemed so much like him. The dream started peaceful, but Damon was serious and… worried. He didn't belong with the atmosphere of the dream. He asked if we had made it out of Mystic Falls, if I was safe, and he told me we need to get to his house in Texas. He said he had told you about it."

"Yes, he did," she said, her face still set in concentration. "Did he say anything else?"

"I asked him if he was all right, and his reply was 'not exactly'."

Rose didn't say anything. She just stared in front of us, eyes fixed on the road. I knew she was thinking through the possibility of Damon compelling me while I slept.

"If Damon did compel me," I started, "then he _is_ alive. Right?"

"Yes," Rose answered quickly.

"So if Damon's alive, that could mean Stefan's okay too. We need to find a gas station or somewhere that would have a phone," I said after I checked and was unable to find my cell.

Rose nodded and ten minutes later pulled into a gas station parking lot. "Be quick," she instructed, surveying the area around us for unseen threats, but she didn't get out of the car because of the sun.

I found a pay phone in the back of the store and dug some change out of my pockets. My hands were shaking as I dialed Stefan's number.

The line rang for what felt like hours before Stefan's voice came from the other end. "This is Stefan Salvatore. I can't make it to the phone at the moment, but please leave a message."

My heart sank so deep in my chest and I wanted to cry.

I took a deep breath to steady myself. "Stefan, it's me. I'm okay; I'm with Rose. I don't know what happened to you or Damon last night, and I'm worried. I'm going to call back later. Please answer. I need to know you're all right. I love you, Stefan."

I placed the phone back and walked to the car.

"He didn't answer," I said.

"Let's go, then."

I climbed into the car, and we zoomed off. The tires were screaming beneath us.

"How long should it take to get to Damon's?" I was curious.

"About ten hours if I was driving like a human, but hopefully I can get there in six."

That would put us arriving around three in the afternoon. I was curious to see the kind of house Damon would have for himself. I pictured a huge mansion with columns and a wrap around porch with ten bedrooms and two living rooms, a dining room big enough to hold twenty people, each room stocked with liquor. I pictured Damon's house as nothing but flashy.

"Where is Damon's house?" I asked.

"According to Damon, it's about fifteen miles north of Galveston Island. He didn't give precise directions, but I think I'll be able to find it."

For the next six hours, we sat in silence. I couldn't find anything to say to the British vampire, and she didn't seem to care for conversation much at the moment either.

I used the silence as a chance to relive the commotion of last night. I tried to figure out how Damon could have survived against the larger vampires. It looked as if Damon had had absolutely no chance of escaping the fight alive, but he had somehow survived. But what had Damon meant that he was 'not exactly' okay? Was he hurt? Was he going to be all right?

And what had happened to Stefan? When he got home, he would have found the wreckage of the fight. And if the vampires were alive… I shuddered trying not to think what could happen to my Stefan.

A quarter to three o'clock, we were driving along the coast, not far from Galveston. Rose was looking around for the driveway Damon had described to her, and after only five minutes of searching, she turned off the main road and on to a paved driveway. The driveway was surrounded by small trees and seemed to stretch on forever. The driveway must have been near a mile long.

Finally, we pulled up to the house. It was nowhere near what I had expected. It was a small, white two-story house that sat right on the water. The house looked no bigger than my house in Mystic Falls. The windows had red shudders. On the front porch stood two chairs with a small table in between. The yard was massive, but well kept. The property must have been a few acres.

Rose reached across me and opened the glove compartment. Inside was a wooden stake, a few blood bags, and a little black fob that looked like a car clicker. She grabbed the clicker and pressed the only button. The garage door opened, and Rose parked the car inside.

"Let's go inside," Rose said.

I got out and headed straight to the door with Rose following right behind me. I opened the door and was taken aback by the house. The interior of the house was beautiful. Next to the door against the wall was a wonderfully ornate mahogany table with just a single red bowl with keys inside. Directly across from the table was the living room with two dark brown leather couches with wooden accents. A flat screen TV was mounted to the wall which was painted a soft tan to contrast the wood. The wooden floor was covered with a red rug and matching red pillows were placed on the couches. The small windows were covered with red curtains that cast a bloody hue across the floor. The kitchen was open and visible from the garage door; it had stainless steel refrigerator and red appliances with black marble counter tops. The wood in the kitchen matched the living room. Stepping into the house further I could see a hallway off to the side with three doors. The dining room came into view. All that occupied the dining room was a mahogany table big enough for four people. The cushions of the chairs were red. Across from the dining room and kitchen was a tiny open space with two red arms chairs and one wall lined with bookshelves. But perhaps the greatest feature of the house was the back wall. The entire back wall was glass so you could stand anywhere and be able to look out on the water. The wall had doors to the back patio that had a small round table and two chairs. It was absolutely gorgeous. This was nothing like how I pictured Damon's house.

I turned around to see Rose's reaction, but she wasn't behind me.

"Rose?" I called.

I looked inside the garage to see Rose against the wall next to the door. She looked like she was in pain.

"Rose, are you all right?" I asked, concerned.

"Elena, I need you to cover that window," she said through gritted teeth.

"Oh," I whispered. I had forgotten Rose couldn't be in the sun.

I ran over to the window and noticed red curtains tucked away on both sides. I pulled them shut and instantly everything was bathed in a blood red light. "It's safe now," I yelled to Rose.

She came in carefully, cautious of any other windows.

"Elena, could you do me a favor?" I nodded. "Could you check the other rooms, please?"

I went down the hall I had noticed and entered the first room on the back of the house. It was a bedroom with mahogany wood furniture and red and gold bedding. The back wall was the same as the great room with a glass door leading out to the patio. I drew the curtains and the same blood red light flooded the room.

The next room down the hall was the laundry room with a red washer and dryer. There were no windows so I moved on to the next room which was the bathroom. The bathroom was the same red as the rest of the house with a glass shower.

Then I ventured upstairs. The entire top floor was one bedroom. The furniture matched the rest of the house, but the design was more elaborate. The huge bed frame had such detailed work I had to get closer to take in everything. The bedding was red and black with gold and black trimming The nightstands, wardrobe, and dresser matched the bed's intricate design. A simple desk sat off to the corner. A TV was mounted in front of the bed. A giant mirror stood in one corner reflecting most of the room. On the front side of the house was the bathroom with a shower that took up one entire side, a tub big enough for five people stood to the other side, and a double sink in the middle with dark marble counter. The tub was red with a matching towels next to it. Looking in further, I could see a door which was probably the toilet. I turned back to the room and looked out the window and to the balcony outside. The view was amazing, breathtaking. With a sigh I closed the curtains and returned downstairs.

Rose was inspecting the house thoroughly. I just sat on the couch as she moved about. When she was satisfied, she came and sat down on the other couch. "I'll take the downstairs bedroom. I won't be sleeping that much anyway."

I shrugged. "So what are we going to do?"

"Well," she started, "when night falls, I have to go get supplies. Blood bags, food, clothes, that sort of thing."

"I think I'll try calling Stefan again," I said as I stood up. I headed upstairs and sat on the bed. One of the night stands had a red telephone. I dialed the number and waited.

"This is Stefan Salvatore. I can't make it to the phone at the moment, but please leave a message."

"Stefan it's me again. I really need you to call me back. You can call this number. I don't know how long I'll be here but it's probably awhile. So please call me. I need to know you're safe. I love you."

I hung up and pulled one of the pillows to my chest. I just laid there and sobbed for a minute. After getting my breath and nerve back, I picked up the phone and dialed a new number.

"You've reached Damon Salvatore," his voicemail started. "Leave a message."

"Hey Damon," I said into the phone. "Please call me if you get this. I need to know you're alive, that you're okay. I'm worried about you. Please call me."

I hung up quickly. I buried my face in a pillow and cried. I didn't know if they were alive. I was so worried that something absolutely horrible had happened to them. I felt so bad for leaving Damon; I had wanted to help, not practically condemn him to the other vampires. I laid there and cried until I slipped into a quieting, calming sea of darkness.

* * *

><p><em>I was the only one in the graveyard on this bleak afternoon. The sky was gray, and clouds blocked out the sun. A think fog had coated the earth. It looked as though it would rain any second, but the rain didn't bother me.<em>

_I was sitting with my back on the gravestone in front of my parents with my diary open in my lap, jotting different thoughts down on the paper. I was writing for several minutes before I heard footsteps coming closer._

_I quickly peeked around the grave marker to see who it was. Out of the mist emerged Damon. He walked up and sat down on the grass beside me._

"_Did you make to the house?" he asked without any greeting or explanation._

"_Damon what are tal-" Then I thought about it. "I'm dreaming?"_

_Damon just gave a short nod._

"_Yes we made it. Rose is going out later to get food and blood and that kind of thing. Damon," I thought for a second about what question I wanted to ask first, "are you all right?"_

_Damon looked me straight in the eyes and I was instantly transfixed and frightened. His usual glimmer of playfulness in those crystal blue eyes was replaced by worry. "They didn't stake me or anything too drastic, just pumped my veins full of vervain. They did the same to Stefan." My heart clenched in my chest. Those vampires took Stefan too. "They're taking us somewhere. I heard one talking about Klaus, so I can only guess this won't end well."_

"_That's what you meant by 'not exactly' when I asked how you were," I stated, understanding. "So you're not in one spot; you're moving?" I asked, trying to hold back tears._

_Damon nodded._

"_And Stefan's with you?" Another nod._

"_How are you in my dream?"_

"_Vampires can enter a humans thoughts," he explained shortly._

"_But Rose told me vampires could only do that close by."_

"_Most vampires," Damon clarified. "I can influence thoughts further than an other vampire I've known. And I'm guessing Rose had to take your vervain off because that would stop the dream manipulating. I should have known it would take compulsion to get you away. So did you make it to the house without problems?"_

"_Yes, we got here earlier this afternoon."_

"_Tell Rose I'm sorry for the windows," he said with a ghost of his signature smirk on his face._

_I almost chuckled. "You have a beautiful house," I whispered._

"_Thank you," he whispered back. Then he stood up and extended his hand down to me. "Come on, I'm tired of this gloom and doom. You're locked in my house to stay hidden from evil vampires, I'm somewhere with the evil vampire almost unconscious, and there is absolutely nothing either of us can do in our situations right now, so let's not have to have deep dark depression in your dream."_

_I took his hand and he helped me to my feet. As I stood the world around us started to change. We were no longer in the cemetery, but standing on a pier with glassy water beneath us._

"_Okay that's kind of freaky," I said as I took in the new sunny atmosphere. "It's beautiful."_

"_Dreams should be."_

_Damon offered me his arm, and I took it. I was glad just to feel him, to know he was alive somewhere. We started walking up the pier that never seemed to end, and perhaps it didn't. We were both quiet, not knowing what to say to the other, but as the sun started to go down on the horizon, Damon turned back to me._

"_Elena, I need you to promise me you'll stay safe, be careful." His voice sounded slightly strained._

_My throat constricted with fear all of a sudden. "I promise," I said on a breath._

"_Thank you. I'll see you tonight," he said._

_And the sun dipped below the horizon, blanketing the world with darkness._

**A/N: This chapter is a little longer. I hope you liked it. Please review. It let's me know what you think and helps me write.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: After planning out most of the rest of the story and figuring out where I want to take this, I've changed the rating for later chapters. Please review.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries or the characters. This is just for fun.**

"Elena," Rose was calling from downstairs. I rolled over and looked around Damon's magnificent room. It would take a few days to get used to waking up here. "Elena, I've made you breakfast."

I got up and walked to the bathroom. I quickly found a comb and attempted to tame my hair. When I looked slightly presentable, I headed down stairs.

Halfway down I was overwhelmed by the smell of pancakes and eggs. I almost flew to the table. I hadn't had anything to eat since the night Stefan and Damon were taken. A giant stake of pancakes sat next to a plate full of yellow, fluffy eggs. I began to scarf down the pancakes and shoveling eggs into my mouth.

"Thank you," I said betweens bites. Rose was sitting in the library with a book in her lap.

"You're welcome," she replied. "I apologize that I forgot to feed you yesterday. Humans have to eat so much. Vampires can last more than a day with a single blood bag," she muttered to herself.

I was too hungry to reply. I just keeping eating everything on the table until the plates were completely empty. I grabbed the plates and took them to the kitchen to wash them. After drying and putting them away, I went and sat in the other armchair in the library.

Checking the clock, I noticed it was around eight-thirty. I had slept most of the day yesterday and all night. I stretched my arms and felt completely revived.

"Any word from Damon?" Rose asked, breaking the silence.

"He said they took Stefan too. He heard one of the vampires talking about going to Klaus, but they were still moving," I told her.

"Did he happen to tell you how he can influence your dreams if he's on the move?"

"He said he could always do that further than other vampires." I shrugged.

Rose nodded. "Anything else?"

"He apologized for the windows…"

A smile crept onto her lips. "At least he's alive. I got you some clothes last night. I put them on the couch."

"Thank you. I think I'll go take a shower and get into some clean clothes," I said as I got up and walked over to the couch. There were a few bags, all spilling out with clothes. Sifting through everything, I found everything a girl could need for any extended period of time. I carried it all upstairs and threw them on the bed. I started the shower and began to organize everything Rose had bought for me.

I had about fifteen shirts with assorted colors and designs, five pairs of jeans, six pairs of shorts, a few pajamas, a package of socks, a pair of flip-flops, a pair of tennis shoes, three packages of underwear, and seven bras. I went to the wardrobe to find it almost full of Damon's clothes. One side had about ten black dress shirts and twenty plain black t-shirts. The other side held three pairs of black dress pants and five pairs of black jeans. A single tie hung from the bar. On the bottom of the wardrobe was a pair of dress shoes and a pair of black leather boots, both tied and shined. I grabbed some hangers from the back and hung my clothes with his and put my shoes next to his. I went to the dresser next. The top drawer was full of Damon's socks, boxers, and a few undershirts, but the other drawers were empty. I folded my things and put them in the second drawer. Everything else in the bags was shampoo, conditioner, body washes, a toothbrush and toothpaste, some makeup and other girly necessities. I took them all to the bathroom and put them where I wanted.

Finally I climbed into the shower. The warm water was instantly soothing, relaxing. I took close to half an hour just to allow the water to run over me. After washing my body and hair, I stepped out and wrapped a towel around me. I walked over to the window and opened it just wide enough to look out. The sun was shining and reflecting off the dark brown waters. The water was in no way pretty, but it still created a nice atmosphere. I closed the curtain back and got dressed. I put on a pair of shorts and a blue v-neck t-shirt.

I sat on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I wanted to go back to Mystic Falls. This was only my second day away, but I still wanted to go back home. I was sure everyone was worrying about me.

I reached over to the phone and began to dial.

"Hello?" Jeremy answered.

"Hi, Jeremy," I said.

"Elena? Elena where are you? Jenna is worried out of her mind. You didn't come home yesterday, and you wouldn't answer your phone. Are you all right?"

"I'm sorry, Jer. We were attacked the other night while I was at the boarding house. I'm fine, but the vampires took Damon and Stefan," I explained.

"Well, where are you?" he asked.

"Rose and I got away. We're at Damon's house in Texas, and we probably won't be home for a while."

"What am I supposed to tell Jenna? She's going crazy."

"I'll call her and tell her I went out of town for a couple of days with Stefan and that I'm sorry I didn't call. That might buy me a couple of days," I sighed. I hated having to lie to her.

"What are you going to do after that?"

"I don't know Jer," I admitted.

"Are you sure you're okay, Elena?"

"Yeah, I have Rose to protect me, but make sure you're safe too, Jer. More vampires could come after you. Be careful."

"I will Elena. Hey, listen, I need to tell Bonnie you're all right; she's insisting on a locator spell."

"I'll call her and let know I'm okay myself."

"All right, I love you Elena; be safe."

"Love you too, Jeremy." I hung up and immediately dialed Jenna's number.

"Hello?" said Jenna on the other end of the line.

"Jenna, before you freak out I ju-" I tried to say, but she interrupted.

"Elena, where the hell are you? You've had me worried sick. Where are you?" she asked again.

"Jenna, I'm sorry I didn't call; my cell's at home. Stefan surprised me and took me on trip out of town for a few days," I lied. "We're just in Raleigh. I didn't mean to worry you."

"The least you could have done was ask me before you left town with you boyfriend," she sounded furious. "I've been losing my mind, Elena. You can't just up and leave when you feel like it. You have to come home right now."

"Jenna I can't do that. I'm sorry I didn't call," I told her again, "but I'll be back in a couple of days."

"No you won't Elena. You get your butt home by the end of today, or I'll-"

"I love you Jenna," I said, cutting her off. "I'll call you in a few days."

"Elena don't you dare han-" she started to say, but I hung up before she could finish.

I took a deep breath. Jenna sounded like she was livid. I rubbed my temples, trying to massage the tone of her voice from my mind. I picked up the phone again, this time dialing Bonnie.

"Hi, you've reached Bonnie Bennett," her voicemail played. "I'm not here, but you can leave a message, and I'll call you later."

"Hey, Bonnie, it's Elena. I'm all right; you don't have to do any locator spell or anything like that. I can't explain it all right now, so call me back. Bye."

I hung up and immediately called Caroline.

"Hello?" Caroline said.

"Hey, Caroline."

"Elena? Oh my gosh you're all right. Where are you? Bonnie and I tried calling you yesterday, and when you didn't answer-"

"Is that Elena?" I heard Bonnie in the background ask.

"Yeah," she answered, "and when you didn't answer, we went to the boarding house to see if you were with Stefan, and the library was in pieces and no one was there. What happened?"

"Vampires attacked us. They took Stefan and Damon. Rose and I escaped, and we're now at Damon's house in Texas, but we're fine," I told her.

"Do you know where the vampires are taking Stefan and Damon?" Bonnie asked. She sounded truly concerned.

"I know they're going to Klaus, but they have gotten there yet."

"How do you know they're going to Klaus?" Caroline asked.

"And that they aren't there yet?" Bonnie chimed in.

"That's a little more complicated," I said. "Damon has been in my dreams. Vampires can do that to humans. He told me they haven't stopped, but he heard one talking about Klaus."

"Wait, you've been dreaming about Damon?" Caroline asked, sounding curious.

"It's not like I have a choice. He's compelling himself into my dreams," I stated. I rolled my eyes. At a time like this when we should be worried about further vampire attacks, Caroline was concerned about me dreaming of Damon.

"How is he compelling your dreams? Shouldn't the vervain stop that?" Bonnie questioned.

"I'm not wearing my vervain. Rose had to take it off of me to get me to leave during the attack. I had refused to leave Damon to fight alone."

Bonnie didn't say anything. The line was just quiet for a moment.

"So what's Damon's house like?"

"Caroline, could we not worry about that right now?" I asked, exasperated. "Listen, you both need to be careful and watch around town. More vampires could come looking for me."

"We'll be watching," Bonnie assured me.

"And could you protect Jenna and Jeremy until I come back?"

"When _are _you coming back?" Caroline inquired.

"It will probably be a while."

"We'll look after them for you, Elena," Bonnie promised.

"Thank you both. I'll keep in touch."

"Be careful Elena," they both commanded.

"You too," I said before hanging up.

I went downstairs to find Rose just as she was before I went upstairs over two hours ago. It looked as if she hadn't moved at all.

I left her to the book she was obviously enthralled with and headed to the kitchen to make lunch. I checked the pantry and refrigerator before finally deciding to make a frozen pizza. While it cooked, I sat in the living room and flipped through the different channels on the TV. I finally decided just to watch some law show. I only paid partial attention. I was mostly zoned out, not thinking of anything in particular. I ate my pizza and once again began to surf the thousands of channels available. I spent several hours watching different programs. If this was how living in this house would be, I figured the days would be long, boring, and uneventful.

Around mid-afternoon, I shut off the TV and went to the library where Rose was still buried in the same book.

"What are you reading?" I asked her.

"The Salvatore family history," she answered. "It goes back to around the thirteen hundreds. It's quite interesting. Seems Damon's charm and Stefan's chivalry goes back through the family. There are more volumes on the shelf if you're curious."

I stood and walked over to the bookshelves. There was a large hole that Rose must have taken her volume from. I looked at the different volumes, wandering where to begin before finally settling on the last volume.

I sat down again and opened the book to the back. On the final few pages I found Damon and Stefan's parents.

_Giuseppe Salvatore was born July 18, 1815 in Florence, Italy. In 1840, Giuseppe moved to Mystic Falls, Virginia where he met his first wife Sarah. Together they built a small but successful plantation. Giuseppe and Sarah had one son, Damon, and one daughter, Angelica. After Sarah died Giuseppe married his second wife Elizabeth and together they had one son, Stefan. Giuseppe died from an unknown attack on April 8, 1865._

_Sarah Gillies-Salvatore was born on January 6, 1817 in Richmond, Virginia. Her family moved to Mystic Falls in the summer of 1839. A year later she met Giuseppe. They married and had two children Damon and Angelica. In 1844, Sarah died on March 21 from influenza._

_Elizabeth Kinney-Salvatore was born in Lexington, Virginia on June 16, 1818. After moving to Mystic Falls 1845, Elizabeth met and married Giuseppe. Elizabeth died during the birth of their son Stefan on November 13, 1847._

_Damon Salvatore was born on November 6, 1840 in Mystic Falls, Virginia. He joined the Confederate army at the age of 21 in 1861. During the spring of 1864, Damon deserted the army and returned to Mystic Falls. Damon was killed during the Battle of Willow Creek on April 7, 1865._

_Angelica Salvatore was born on December 14, 1842 in Mystic Falls, Virginia. Angelica died on May 27, 1844 from influenza._

_Stefan Salvatore was born in Mystic Falls, Virginia on November 13, 1847. He was raised on the family plantation. Stefan was killed during the Battle of Willow Creek on April 7, 1865._

I stared at the pictures of their parents. Stefan looked so much like his father, but he had his mother's eyes. His mother, Elizabeth, had a plain face, but piercing eyes she had given to Stefan. Everything else Stefan had came from Giuseppe. Damon's mother, on the other hand, was gorgeous. She was one of the most beautiful people I had ever seen. She had stunning features that matched Damon's. Damon seemed to only possess his father's chin and jaw. Everything else came from Sarah. Angelica surprised me. I didn't know Damon had had a little sister. She looked like a sweet little two year old. She was absolutely precious. I instantly felt bad for Damon. He had lost his mother and baby sister within a couple of months of each other. And Stefan had never even known his mother. It was so sad.

I closed the book, not wanting to read any more of Damon and Stefan's depressing history. I put the book back on the shelf. It was now starting to get into the later half of the evening. I made another pizza for dinner.

"I'm going upstairs," I told Rose as I carried my food up with me. "Night, Rose."

"Good night, Elena," she replied, still reading her volume of the Salvatore history. From the way she was sitting, I guessed she would be there for the rest of the night. I turned on the TV and crawled onto the bed. I found a movie on and watched it as I ate my pizza. When the movie was over, I turned the TV off, put on a tank-top and matching pajama shorts and crawled into bed. I turned the bedside lamp off and pulled the comforter up to my chin. I closed my eyes and hoped for one thing: I would see Damon while I slept.

* * *

><p><em>I was sitting in the living room of the Salvatore boarding house. After a few seconds, I figured out I was dreaming.<em>

"_Damon," I called to the house. "Are you here?"_

_I began to roam the house looking for him. After twenty minutes of searching, I stood in the middle of the living room, perplexed. Damon wasn't here. "Damon," I tried again._

"_Out here Elena," his voice came from somewhere else in the back of the house._

_I followed his voice to the backdoor of the house. I stepped out on the patio to find him lounging in a chair. He had his arms crossed behind his head and looked completely relaxed._

_I took the seat next to him and stared at the enormous backyard and the forest beyond._

"_How was your day, Elena?" Damon asked._

"_Fine, a little boring," I admitted. "How are you? How's Stefan?"_

_Damon sighed and sat up and turned to face me. "We reached our destination today. I don't know where exactly we are, but I have a pretty good idea. And as for Stefan, he was okay when we got here, but they separated us; I haven't seen him since this morning."_

"_Do you know where they took him?" I asked, worried._

"_No, I don't."_

_I sighed. "So _about_ where are you?"_

"_Elena, I don't want you and vampire Barbie and judgie witch and little miss England's Rose trying to stage a rescue. There are too many vampires here. In fact, I think they brought us here to use us as bait to get to you. If they couldn't get you, they could get someone to lure you out into the open. They wanted you to come looking for them so they could capture you and take you to Klaus. It's not safe," Damon warned._

"_But what about you and Stefan? If they can't find me, or I can't find them, they might kill you and Stefan to get you out of the way."_

"_I'll find a way out, find Stefan and be back to Mystic Falls in no time, no worries," he said, shrugging. He leaned back and resumed his relaxed posture._

"_I was reading one of the books you have on your family history today," I told him. His eyebrow shot up but he didn't move. "I'm sorry about your mother and Angelica. I didn't know you had a sister..."_

_Damon shrugged. "I barely knew them. You can't really miss and remorse over someone you didn't really know."_

_I nodded silently. It was just so upsetting. It helped explain why Damon preferred not to have any emotions._

_I stood up over Damon. He opened one eye and looked at me quizzically. "I don't want to just sit still; I've been doing that all day. I don't want to just sit during my dream."_

_Damon stood and we began to walk around the property. "So have you talked to anyone in Mystic Falls?" Damon asked._

"_Yes, I talked to Jeremy, Bonnie and Caroline; they all say there have been no signs of any other vampires, and Jenna is insanely mad that I just up and left without telling her."_

_Damon's smirk slid onto his face, but he didn't reply. He just turned abruptly and began walking in a different direction. "Damon where are you going?" I asked, running to catch up to him as he entered the woods._

"_You'll see," was his only reply._

_**Uh-oh cliffhanger… Like it? Hate it? Love it? Indifferent about it? Review and let me know.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, alerted, and just read the last chapter in general. It's inspiring. This chapter has much more Damon for your reading pleasure. Please review.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries or the characters. This is just for fun.**

_Damon kept glancing back at me to be sure I was still behind him. He was only a few paces ahead of me, but the forest was too thick to walk side by side, so he led me deeper but always checked to see if I was still there._

_We walked through the dense forest almost an hour before Damon stopped and turned to stand in front of me. "Close your eyes," he said._

_After a moment of hesitation, I complied. He took my hand and began to tug us forward. We had only taken a few steps before he released me. "Open your eyes," he whispered._

_I opened my eyes to find myself in an almost different world. I was standing on a hill overlooking a valley. The trees parted to reveal the vast, open field below. A white picket fence closed in the property, keeping the outside world at bay. The grass within the fence was lush and green with small trees scattered about. A few people stood in the fields. In the middle of it all was a massive southern plantation. It was white with dark blue shutters and doors. The porch hugged the entire building, and rocking chairs were placed evenly apart across it. A hedge fence held this magnificent house, separating it, isolating it from the rest of the property. The house was exactly as I imagined Damon's to be before I actually saw it._

_I was in awe of this wonderful place. It was amazing. There were few words to describe the marvel of this place._

"_Where are we? What is this place?" I asked Damon._

"_This," he whispered with a quiet reverence, "was the plantation I grew up on."_

_I turned to him, finally taking my eyes from the beautiful view. He was leaning against a tree with his hands in his pockets just staring down at the house._

"_You said you read the family history," he said, not looking at me. "I thought you might want to see it."_

_I walked up to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. His face was slightly taunt with hurt, a sadness tracing back over a century. After a moment, he placed his hand over mine and flashed his signature smirk. "Would you like a tour?"_

_I shrugged, not wanting to subject him to any pain from being in this place. "We don't have to…"_

"_I insist, Elena," Damon said, wrapping his hand around mine and pulling me with him as he began to walk down the hill. When we got the fence, Damon went straight to a gate only a few feet away, opened it and held it for me. I entered, thanking him as I passed._

"_Where should we start? The house? The grounds? The stables?" Damon started rattling off all the different places he could take me._

"_I want to see the house."_

"_Your wish is my command, Miss Gilbert," he said extending his arm to me and falling into the role of southern gentleman that he was raised for._

_I gripped his bicep. "Thank you, Mister Salvatore," I acknowledged, falling into the role of a southern lady._

"_If we're going to the house, I insist we wear proper attire," Damon declared._

"_What do you mean by-" I looked at Damon, who was suddenly dressed in a Confederate soldiers uniform. From a sword at his hip to the hat he now wore, he was a picture from a history book. I inspected myself to find a ruby red dress with huge puffy, ruffled skirts and black lace trimming. Jewels of different colors hung from the dress, making it shimmer and sparkle with an array of color. The bodice was tight from the corset, but not too tight to cut off my breath. It had a slightly v-neck that connected to the black lace sleeves that hugged the bottom of my shoulders, leaving the tops and my neck exposed. I felt a pearl necklace brushing against my skin, and reaching up, I found a small hat on my head that I was sure would match my dress perfectly._

_After considering what I was wearing, a thought entered my mind. Had Katherine ever worn anything like this? Did I look like her even more now, if that was even possible?_

_Damon must have sensed something had changed because he leaned over to speak directly into my ear. "You are nothing like her," he assured me._

"_I know; it's just… I don't know. I don't want to have to be any more like here than I already am," I admitted._

"_If you want, we can change back into what we were wearing," Damon offered._

_I sighed. "No, it's all right, I guess. Besides it's a beautiful dress. And you, Mister Salvatore, looking quite charming."_

"_And you, Miss Gilbert, look absolutely _delicious_," he said, not hiding the innuendo or the flirty eye-thing he does._

_I chuckled softly and rolled my eyes, not caring enough to respond._

"_What first? The inside or the outside?"_

"_Let's work from the inside out," I decided._

_Damon opened the door for me. I walked into the foyer, and gasped. Just like everything else in this dream, it was beautiful. The ceiling had arches, each with small but elaborate designs that were hard to make out from the floor. A table held little porcelain figures, all painted with bright colors. There was a stairway with white banisters and dark wood steps. A few pictures were hanging from the wall. To the left was an open sitting room with four armchairs with a generic floral print arranged in a circle, and a table sat in the middle. A fireplace with tiny features was on the far side of the room with the Salvatore family crest over it. A clock sat on the mantel under a portrait of Giuseppe and Elizabeth._

_There was an arched doorway on the other side of the room. I moved toward it, curious about what else the house had to offer._

_I found myself in the dining room. The table could easily and comfortably hold sixteen people. A purple table runner held two small golden candelabras and one large one in the middle. The table was set with white plates and bowls that had a single ring of gold around the rim and gold silverware was set at each place. The table was a dark oak and had matching chairs with purple cushions. A portrait of Damon hung on one wall, Stefan on one, and Giuseppe on another. The frames were the same oak as the table and had gold trimming to match the china. It all fit together so perfectly._

_I moved to the next door I found. This one led to the kitchen. Not interested to see this room I continued to the next door which directed me back to the place I came from with the stairs. On the other side of the house was a library. A dark blue rug covered the wood floors. A couple of chairs were scattered around the room with books stacked next to them. Shelves lined every wall, filled completely with books. A desk stood at the back with papers tossed across the top. A oil lamp sat on the corner, almost hanging off. I moved closer to inspect some of the papers, being mindful of my skirts so I wouldn't knock anything over. The papers were all for the business of the plantation. I walked up to some of bookshelves and attempted to read the various titles, but I couldn't find any in English._

_I moved on to the upstairs, glancing at the pictures as I went. One was of Angelica. She was smiling in the painting, looking completely joyful. It was so cute._

_I went into the first door I saw. A four poster bed took up most of the room. A dresser stood in one corner with a wash basin on top and a wardrobe in another corner. The next two rooms were the same, but a few journals were laying around one room, so I guessed it was Stefan's and the stack of books in the other led me to believe it was Damon's. The last room had the same design but was much larger, indicating it was probably Giuseppe's._

"_What do you think?" Damon asked me._

_I jumped a little at his voice. I had forgotten he was with me. I got so wrapped up with the house I didn't think about him following me._

"_It's wonderful," I replied. "What's next?"_

_Damon wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me silently with him outside. We strolled around the porch and Damon pointed out some things on the other side of the fence like the cotton fields and the stables. At the back of the house was a maze made from hedges._

"_This is all so… beyond words," I told Damon as I was once again taken aback by the beauty of this place._

"_There's one more thing you have to see," Damon said._

_Damon led me to the stables. "Damon, I've never ridden a horse," I stated, a little apprehensive of the idea of riding the creature Damon pulled from a stall._

"_Don't worry, Elena. Midnight here," he said, patting the side of the large black horse, "is the easiest horse to ride in the entire south. Besides, all you have to do is hold on, and since this _is _a dream, if you wanted, you would have no problems riding _any _animal."_

_It made a little sense, but I still didn't want to try it._

_Without a saddle or anything, just the bridle to guide it, Damon jumped onto the back of the horse. He reached one hand down to me. With only a breath of hesitation, I took his hand and he helped me climb on the horse and get settled behind him. I gripped the horse so tightly with my thighs that I thought I might hurt it. I wrapped my arms around Damon and put my head on his shoulder._

"_You ready?"_

"_I guess," was the only answer I could find. The horse began to move and I locked my arms around Damon tighter._

"_You're all right, Elena," Damon said, unable to hide the smirk in his voice. "You'll enjoy the ride a lot better if you weren't so worried."_

"_I'm on a creature that's about six feet off the ground. Why should I not worry?"_

"_For one, this is a dream. Two, this is a dream I'm controlling. And three, I would never let anything happen to you…" When I didnn't loosen my grip he tried something else. "So far you've seen a place that hasn't existed in over a hundred years, changed clothes without even realizing it, and seen a tiny bit of gentleman Damon. Given all these impossible things, do you still want to worry over riding a horse?"_

"_Gentleman Damon's not impossible," I stated._

"_That's debatable."_

_I shook my head. I spent the rest of the ride still holding on for dear life. We finally reached the edge of the woods when Damon got off. He grabbed my waist and easily lowered me to the ground. I was so grateful to finally have my feet under me._

"_This is our last stop on the Salvatore tour."_

_I laughed at Damon's little rhyme._

_Damon started to walk to the edge of the trees. On the other side was a rushing waterfall._

"_Damon, what is this?" I asked watching the water tumble over the edge. I wondered if this was out in the real world. It was magnificent and beautiful._

"_This… is where we buried my mother and sister," Damon answered, solemnly. He pointed to two little head stones near the edge of the falls. "Giuseppe couldn't stand it when they died; he nearly went insane. He buried them here, out of the way, so he wouldn't have to think about them. He wanted to bury their memory with them and resented me because I didn't die too. Because I was his constant reminder of my mother."_

_I didn't say anything. I just wrapped my arms around him in an attempt at comfort. Damon returned the gesture and began stroking my hair._

"_This was their favorite place."_

"_Thank you, Damon," I said, "for sharing your past with me."_

"_You're welcome," he whispered into my hair._

_We just held each other for awhile until I noticed the waterfall getting louder. "I'm about to awake up, aren't I?"_

"_Yes," Damon answered. "Be careful, Elena, and stay safe."_

"_You too."_

_The noise just kept getting louder until it consumed everything._

**Like it? Hate it? Love it? Indifferent about it? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions? Requests? (Did I leave anything out…?) Press the review button and let me know what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries. This is just for fun.**

I sat up and bed and stretched. It was early morning. This was the first night I slept normally since the attack. I got up and headed straight to the shower. I was only in the shower long enough to wash my hair. I brushed my teeth, got dressed and headed downstairs to cook breakfast.

Rose was sitting on the floor with her back against the curtains. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't moving, not even breathing. "Rose?"

"The sun's warm, even through the curtains. I just wanted to feel the warmth for a while," she said, not opening her eyes. "How's Damon?"

"He said they got there last night, wherever there is…," I trailed off.

"He doesn't know where they are?"

"He said he had a good guess but wasn't completely sure," I answered.

"Well where does he _think _they are?" Rose asked.

"He wouldn't tell me. He doesn't want any of us trying to come after them, so he can try to get out without putting us in danger. Plus, he thinks they just want to use him and Stefan to lure me to them. And he said they took Stefan away from him…"

Rose finally moved; she stood and walked over to me in the kitchen and placed a comforting hand on my arm. "It will be alright, Elena. If Damon's alive, and we know he is, he'll find a way out, and he would never leave his brother behind; you know that."

"I know… Do you want anything to eat?" I asked, changing the subject. "I saw some waffles in the freezer. I was thinking about making some for breakfast."

Rose shook her head. "I'm fine, thank you."

I nodded and stepped away to start the waffles. Once they popped out of the toaster, I sat at the dining room table and ate them silently. I finished eating, washed my plate, and headed back upstairs.

I needed something to do other than just sitting and watching TV or reading. As I tried to think of something, I had the sudden urge to write in my diary. I wanted some way to express everything that had happened in only three short days.

I opened the drawer of Damon's nightstand to find a little leather book on top of other random papers. I picked up the book and opened it to the first page. Writing that could almost be considered calligraphy was scrolled across the page. This was Damon's personal journal. The first date at the top of the page was December 6, 1937. I flipped through the pages, reading only the dates, not wanting to intrude too greatly into Damon's personal thoughts. The last date was July 2009, just a month before he showed up in Mystic Falls.

I started writing on the next blank page.

_Dear Damon's Diary,_

_The past three days have been crazy, and I had to get everything out of my system somehow._

_Three nights ago, we were attacked by seven vampires. I was at the boarding house, waiting for Stefan to come home from hunting. Damon came home first and that's when the vampires attacked. One grabbed me and I had to stand there and watch six other vampires attack Damon. I had wanted to help, to do something other than just stand there. And as the carnage raged, Damon's voice started yelling at me. He wanted me to leave, to run; he wanted to protect me, but I didn't want him to protect me, not with those odds against him. But Rose did what he said. I think she just used it as an excuse to run, to not be captured by vampires that would take her to the original vampire that she's been running from for over half a millennium. She took me and drug me away from the house; she compelled me to leave and forced me to desert Damon to fight alone. Then, when she compelled me to sleep, I dreamed of Damon._

_It was a normal dream, nothing too fantastic, in fact nothing at all. But then, Damon walked in and he was so worried, so concerned. He only wanted to know that I was safe. At first I thought he was just part of the dream, something my mind fabricated. But it was absolutely Damon. He wasn't like other people in other dreams, where you can't quiet get every feature right and you wake up thinking that that is in no way that person, but _that was Damon_. From every crease in his forehead when he was worrying to the tone of concern in his voice, it was pure Damon. He told me to go to his house in Texas. Even when he was just attacked, even when other vampires were taking him away, he was protecting me._

_When I woke up I tried calling Stefan; he didn't answer. I spent the next six hours in Damon's car with Rose until we got to the house. I got inside and called Stefan and Damon; they didn't answer, and I cried myself to sleep. I was so worried about them both and I couldn't hold my emotions inside. I felt scared, worried, guilty, helpless._

_Damon was there when I dreamed. He told me both he and Stefan were taken. I felt like my heart was being crushed within my chest. He tried to make me feel better, to take my mind off our dire situations by taking me down a long pier. He then made me promise to stay safe._

_The next day I called everyone at home. Everyone sounded okay (except for Jenna) and there were no signs of vampires. Then I found a book on the Salvatore history. Damon had such a bleak past. He lost both his mother and sister, and in a way, he also lost his father. It reminded me of losing my own parents. I knew how it felt, and I understand now why Damon doesn't want to feel anything. With the lose of his sister and mother, the resentment of his father, the troubles he had with his brother, and Katherine's rejection, it made total sense._

_Then I dreamed of him again, and he told me that he wasn't with Stefan anymore, that they were separated. That just added extra fear to my already overwhelmed self. But then he took me on a marvelous tour of his home in 1864. It was touching to know that he didn't mind sharing that piece of his past. Damon was always so… secretive about some of the things of his past. It was moving to know that he didn't mind showing me his history, and for a moment, he seemed human._

_Now I'm left to just wait, wait to find out if Stefan's alive, wait for Damon to escape, wait for vampires to attack my friends and family at home, wait to be taken by vampires, and, most importantly, wait for the sun to set so I can see Damon again._

I signed and dated the entry at the bottom. I placed the book on top of nightstand for later and headed downstairs to make lunch.

Rose was once again sitting against the curtains, but this time I left her to herself. I made a frozen ravioli meal and took it with me back upstairs. I turned on the TV, and once again found a movie to watch. I had a feeling this would be all I would be doing here until we left. I was already bored here, and it was only the second day.

I turned off the TV and decided to call Caroline, hoping she would be able to break this dullness.

"Elena?" her bubbly voice came from the other end.

"Hey Caroline," I greeted.

"How are you?"

"To be honest, I'm bored out of my mind," I told her.

"Well, you called the right girl. So tell me, what's it like, Damon's house?" she asked, not containing her curiosity.

"Beautiful. It's quaint on the outside and pure Damon on the inside. Everything is dark wood with red accents, and it's all so open and airy, and the entire back wall is glass so you can sit and watch over the bay. Everything just fits together so perfectly, and it's just a nice little house, but sadly, there isn't much to do. I have to stay inside because if any vampires grabbed me and the sun was out, Rose couldn't do anything to help. There are books, but I'd only be able to read about half of them because there are so many in Italian, which leaves just sitting around and watching TV, and we both know how I am with just sitting around like that."

"What does Rose do?"

"She spent all day yesterday reading the Salvatore family history, and she's sitting along the back windows, trying to feel the sun through the curtains right now."

"So all you can do basically is eat and sleep…"

"Pretty much," I confirmed.

"And speaking of sleeping… how's Damon?" she asked, letting her voice morph into that tone all girls take when prying for boy details. "Dreaming of him… it's pretty scandalous."

"He's making me dream of him, Caroline. I'm not _dreaming _of him; it's just him putting himself into my mind. It's a trick vampires can do apparently."

"Hmm, I should try that," she whispered to herself. "What do you dream about?"

"I've been at the Grill, at the graveyard, at the boarding house, and at the Salvatore plantation from 1864. He just keeps me updated on what's going on, how he's doing, and things like that," I answered.

"What about Stefan?" Caroline inquired.

"Stefan was taken away when they got to where ever they went… Damon doesn't know anything about what happened to him."

"So do you dream of him every time you go to sleep, or just at night?" she questioned.

"I don't know." It was an interesting thought. "I haven't tried anything else."

"Then I say you should take a nap," Caroline suggested.

"Caroline, I-" I started, not even knowing what to say.

"Good night Elena," she said before hanging up the phone.

It only took a second of consideration before I turned the lamp off that was next to me and closed my eyes and waited for sleep to carry me to Damon.

* * *

><p><em>Damon was standing on th<em>_e balcony of the house. He had his hands on the railing and was gazing off into the golden horizon as the sun was setting. I walked up to him and assumed the same position as him._

"_I see someone turned in early today," Damon said, his smirk plastered to his face. "Couldn't wait to see me again?"_

"_Actually, Caroline wondered if you would be in my dreams every time I slept. I thought I would test the theory…" I shrugged it off._

_We stood quietly, enjoying the other's company as we watched the sun go down over the water. Damon's presence just helped soothe all the anxieties from the past few days._

"_So what are we going to do for this little nap? I'm sorry but there's really nothing to do at your house."_

"_I take offense to that," Damon said, placing his hand over his heart. "And as for this dream, I think a little moon lit dip could be fun."_

"_You can't be serious…"_

"_Oh but I can and am," he said and before I could even respond, he jumped over the rail._

"_Damon, no," I shrieked, knowing that only the ground waited at the bottom, but as I peeked over the edge, I saw nothing. "Damon?"_

"_Are you coming, Elena?" his voice came from below._

"_I'm not wearing anything to swim in," I called back down._

"_That is _more _than fine with me."_

"_That's not what I meant, Damon, and you know it."_

"_You really need to wrap your mind around the fact that this is a dream, Elena and that anything you want to do, want to happen, want to wear, or not wear is just a thought away," Damon said._

_I tried it. I picture myself in my red two piece bathing suit, and upon looking down, I saw that that was what I was wearing. It was strange. This dream business would take some getting used to._

_I put one leg over the rail and looked down at absolute darkness. "Are you sure I'll be okay?"_

"_Positive," Damon affirmed._

_I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I brought my other leg over and plunged into the unknown below._

**Please review and tell me what you honestly think. Opinions are always welcome.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: A very special thanks to xxSomerhalder-Wayxx. That review meant so much to me, and is probably the only reason I'll be continuing this story. Thank you so much. There are no words to express what that support means to me. Thank you. ****J And I'd like to apologize for not updating earlier, but I needed sleep. Hopefully this makes up for it, but let me know.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, the books or the show, because this chapter has a little bit of the books to it, but I took it with my own dreamy twist. But I STILL DON'T OWN THEM. *sniffles***

_I was only in the air for a second before I hit the water with a splash. I was shocked as the water enveloped me, and I couldn't move from the unexpected water surrounding me. My lungs burned as I took a deep breath, and water entered my lungs. I started panicking and struggling to get to the surface. I felt arms lock around my chest and pull me through the water. My head broke the surface, and I coughed furiously._

_I looked around. The house wasn't anywhere to be seen; it had vanished. There was enough light to see, but the source was invisible; it just seemed to appear, to emanate from nowhere. The dark water was calming around us and stretched on for eternity._

"_And on the list of things you can do within a dream, breathing underwater…? Check," came Damon's sarcastic voice._

"_You're such an ass," I told him when I could finally breathe._

_Damon just laughed. He finally released me and swam around to face me._

"_And you don't seem to have a great imagination."_

_I rolled my eyes at him. "I have a huge imagination; you've just never seen it. And what about you? From you, I've only see places that exist or existed, not much imagination at all. Me? I could dream a fantastic world."_

"_In that case… prove it. Show me your imagination," he challenged._

"_Fine," I closed my eyes, and just let my mind go. When I had everything laid out, I opened one eye and hoped that it would have all appeared._

_And it did. The water was gone. We were standing on thick, flourishing grass that looked as though it was growing higher every moment we spent under the green glow of a lush canopy, though no trees could be seen. Giant birds with two to six long, full tails set in circles behind their bodies with every color smeared across them, meshing together the blues, greens, grays, yellows, oranges, purples, browns, blacks, whites, and every shade in between, flew overhead, squawking and cawing. From above, the branches were parted by a large piece brown figure that sliced through the leaves without snapping any of the wood. As the object grew closer, the bottom of a large ship came into view. In the distance, a castle literally gleamed and shimmered with gold. It's towers extended through the canopy and into the sky beyond. The feet of many people could be seen walking about across the branches as though it was the ground. Orbs of light erupted from the ground and floated through the air and bounced off the canopy, came back and absorbed into the ground. A bird occasionally got stuck in the light balls, crying and screeching for help, until they reached the ground, and the light evaporated around them, releasing them to fluff their feathers and take flight once again. No other living creature could be seen under the canopy, though an entire civilization could be heard thriving above._

"_Alright, you imagined this world, now you have to explain it," Damon said. "What's with the treeless branches?" he asked pointing to the endless foliage above us._

"_There's only one tree, and it's branches enclose this entire world. There are more castles down here. Only royalty is allowed to build under the canopy; everyone else lives up there," I clarified. "Come on, we have to catch a ride to the top if you want to see everything."_

_Without another word, I found one of the birds that got trapped within a light bubble and hopped onto its back. It flew easily even with my added weight. It glided just beneath the bright green branches, close enough to reach up and feel the sun on the other side._

"_Are you coming?" I called back to Damon who was still on the ground._

"_You expect me to ride a bird?" Damon sounded appalled by the idea._

"_Come on Damon, it's a dream, remember? You can ride anything you do or don't want to," I yelled, throwing his words back to him. I could almost hear him roll his eyes._

_Turning back, he wasn't there. Confused, I scanned the ground for him but turned up with nothing._

"_Up here, Elena," came Damon's sing-song, mocking, annoyingly sarcastic voice._

_I looked up. Damon was floating in an orb of light not far from me with his arms tightly crossed across his chest and a smirk beaming as brightly as the light around him. When the bubble reached the canopy, his hand shot out to grab a limb and pull himself up. I did the same, abandoning the bird. I tried to heave myself from under the tree's branch, but I didn't have adequate strength. Before I could even struggle, Damon's hands took mine and lifted me._

"_Thank you."_

"_Upper body strength… Also on the list of things you can have in a dream," Damon teased._

"_A simple 'you're welcome, Elena' would suffice," I snapped at him playfully._

"_You're welcome, Elena," he replied with a smile that morphed into a smirk._

_I shook my head, but ignored him. Instead I took in the new landscape. The sky was decorated with purple, pink and red splotches of light surrounded by a sea of baby blue, almost the color of Damon's eyes, I noted. In the distance, I could see buildings expanded from the leaves, as if they were growing with the tree. Grander buildings stood and were more clear even from far away. They must have been the castles because they glimmered with the same glow the one below held, creating a hazy luminescence around them. Floating through the tree was several ships, ships that looked like those that would belong to pirates. Closer, I could see people, all dressed with simple brown clothes that came together into a shapeless, moving mass, walking about in a market place that sold different fruit and vegetables with spots and bumps and spikes. There were houses nearby that looked like cottages with smoke rising from chimneys and merging above in the sky to create random, unknown shapes. Animals that looked similar to penguins in size, shape and build, but with longer, curly tails, crawled across the canopy like dogs. The people conversed and traded as the penguin-dogs crawled around their feet, and took no notice to mine or Damon's presence._

"_Wow," Damon said. "I underestimated your imagination."_

"_Yes you did," I replied, snuggly._

"_Where did this come from?" he wondered. "Why this?"_

"_I don't know," I answered truthfully. "It's just what came to mind."_

"_Well, this is your world; what do you think we should do?" Damon asked._

"_Let's go check out the castle."_

_We began walking toward the shining castle, slowly, leisurely. We were in no rush; we just wanted to enjoy the wonderful world around us._

"_So how are you? Have you heard anything about Stefan? How's the escape plan coming?" I asked him._

"_I'm fine for now," he said, reassuringly. "They've got me in a cell that reminds me too much of the basement. I've spent enough time in my undead life in that place. As for Stefan, I haven't seen him today, or heard any of the guards talking about him, about anything at all actually. They just stand there; if I wasn't in a cage, I'd think I was in London. And the escape plan is being formulated, but it's a little early to act; they'd be expecting that. Don't worry, Elena. It won't be much longer until Stefan and I join you and Rose."_

"_I can't help but worry. What if they're torturing Stefan, worse than the tomb vampires did when they took him? We both know how badly _that_ ended."_

"_I don't see why they would torture him. They would only want to know where you are, and if they wanted that little bit of information, they would ask me because I was the one who was there with you before you and Rose escaped," Damon reasoned._

_I nodded; it made sense, but logic would never be able to soothe worry as deep as mine._

"_Our trip through the castle will have to be postponed to a later dream," Damon commented._

"_Why? What's going?" A new sense of panic budded in my stomach, twisting it and making my head feel light._

"_Calm down, Elena. You're just starting to wake up," Damon chuckled._

_I looked around. Sure enough, everything was starting to fade, to disappear with a growing, all consuming light._

"_Do dreams always do that?" I asked, honestly curious about this recurring theme in all the dreams I've had with Damon._

"_Unless you're woken suddenly…"_

"_Huh," was all I could say to reply._

"_I'll see you tonight, Elena. Stay safe and be careful," Damon said. This was now his normal parting, always reminding me that he wanted me to be safe, reminding me of the promise I made to him that I would._

"_You be careful too."_

_Then the world dissolved as it always did, separating me from Damon, from that tiny connection to Stefan._

* * *

><p>And I opened my eyes to a world void of life and color and happiness. I entered a world full of fear, with no way to escape, no Stefan, no Damon. Here it seemed that was all they were, a dream. With only a few days gone, they appeared so far, so distant. In my dreams I had Damon. Damon could tell me what was going on; he was the key to getting Stefan out of wherever they were, back to me, safe again, all of us. In my dreams Damon gave me hope and helped take my mind from the situation that we had been forced into.<p>

But here in the real world, I had nothing to calm my nerves except the silent promise Damon had made to escape. I had to hold on to that until he could find Stefan, and they could get out of there, and we could all go back to normal.

"I see you're awake," Rose said from the top of the stairs. "You're friend called… What was her name? The witch… Bonnie! That was it. Bonnie, she said that she needed to talk to you, but I didn't want to wake you. I figured you were talking to Damon, and it might be important, so I let you sleep."

"Did she say what it was about?" I asked her, confused as to why Bonnie would need to talk to me. Perhaps vampires had attacked Mystic Falls. They could have taken more of my friends. I sat up and grabbed the phone before she could answer. I dialed her number and waited.

"She just said that you need to call her when you wake up."

"Thank you."

"Of course," she called over her shoulder as she walked down the stairs.

"I think I've got it," Bonnie answered without even a hello.

"Got what? Bonnie, what are you talking about?" I was completely confused.

"I think I have a way to find Stefan and Damon. It's a long shot, but it could work."

"Wait, what? How?" I was still confused.

"I could do the same locator spell that we used to find you when Rose took you using Caroline's blood," she explained. "Damon's blood was used to turn her into a vampire; it may work to find him. I'm not sure that it will work, but it worth a try. I just wanted to see what you would say before I tried it."

"It sounds like a great idea," I exclaimed. "Thank you, Bonnie."

"I'm not sure it will work yet Elena."

"Thank you anyway though Bonnie. It means a lot to me that you're going to try to help me get them back. I know Stefan and Damon aren't your favorite people."

"I know you want them back, and I'll help you. Plus, if we could find them, we might be able to find the vampire that's looking for you and kill him."

"Thank you, again, Bonnie."

"Well, hey listen Elena, I'm going to go find Caroline, and I'll call you later tonight to tell you what happened," she said.

"All right," I hung up and walked downstairs, a new hope growing inside me.

**Please review and let me know what you think.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This chapter was a little harder to write. Let me know what you think because I'm not completely confident with this one. Tell me how I did.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries or Gone with the Wind because I borrowed a tiny quote.**

I was sitting on the couch, staring at the phone, praying it would ring. It had been nearly two hours, and I had heard nothing from Bonnie. The sun had set long ago, and I was ready to crawl in bed and dream of Damon.

"The phone won't ring any faster the longer you stare at it, Elena," Rose said. She sounded like my mom used to when I was younger. I would sit in front of the door for hours and waited for my father to come home from the office. My mother would say, "He won't be home until three. Just because you sit around and wait doesn't make time move faster or make him walk through the door any sooner."

"What's taking so long?" I asked, actually turning my eyes away from the phone for a short second.

Rose was standing with the curtains drawn and the moonlight streaming through. She was leaning against the glass, just dreamily gazing into the distance.

I focused my attention back to the telephone.

"Perhaps she couldn't find Caroline," Rose reasoned.

"No, they're both on high alert right now with Stefan and Damon being taken and the possibility of more vampires in Mystic Falls. If Bonnie called Caroline, she would drop whatever she was doing and come to help."

"Then, I suggest you have patience."

I sighed. That was definitely not what I wanted to hear. I wanted something definitive, the guarantee that we had a way to find Damon or the crushed feeling of a failed chance, not this sickening uncertainty.

A motionless hour later, the phone finally rang. I picked it up before the first ring had stopped.

"What happened? What took so long? Did you find him?" I asked as soon as I had it to my ear.

"Elena clam down," Bonnie said.

"What happened?" I tried again.

"It worked."

I felt a sudden weight lifted from my shoulders and a smile spreading across my lips. I released the breath I was holding. It worked. We could find them. We could save them.

"So where is he?" I couldn't contain my excitement.

"I don't know where Ste-," Bonnie started.

"What do you mean you don't know where he is?" I asked, cutting her off. "You said it worked. How could you not know where he is if it worked?"

"Elena, calm down and I will answer all your questions. Yes the spell worked. Caroline has Damon's blood because he turned her, but since Damon and Stefan are brothers, it works to find them both. We started with a map of just Virginia, and nothing happened; the blood just ran over the side. Then we tried an entire map of America. One trail of blood went all the way to Nevada. It's in the middle of the desert. We searched that area; there's nothing there but dirt. The other is in New Orleans. I couldn't find any more specific locations, and I can't tell you which is Stefan and which is Damon, or if they're just vampires that Damon or Stefan turned. It probably works for that too. Caroline's blood can point to Damon's and Stefan's and any other vampires that came from them because they have their blood too. I'm sorry, Elena. There's just no way to tell."

My heart sank and my throat constricted. It had worked, but it hadn't helped. We couldn't find them. We couldn't save them. That bright glimmer of hope that had grown so quickly was doused and destroyed so easily. I should have known that we couldn't be so lucky to find them that simply.

I suddenly felt like crying. I could feel the tears collecting in my eyes, waiting to overflow and slip down my cheeks. Though it was hard, I held them back, not wanting to cry, wanting to stay strong.

"Elena are you okay?" came Caroline's soft voice.

"Um, yeah," I lied, taking a deep breath to steady my voice. "I'm fine. Damon's working on an escape plan anyway. We haven't exhausted all our hopes yet. Thank you, both of you, for helping me."

"Is there anything else we can do Elena?" Caroline asked.

"No, right now I just think I need to sleep. I have to talk to Damon. He might be able to tell us where he is…"

"Wait you haven't asked Damon if he knows where he is yet?" Caroline queried.

"I have, and he said he has a good guess, but he wouldn't tell me."

"Why wouldn't he tell you?" Bonnie inquired.

"He doesn't want any of us trying to save him. He doesn't want us to get hurt. He wants to try getting out on his own first."

"Who leaves him to make the decisions?" Caroline asked, angrily.

"That's Damon." I shrugged. "Anyway, the sooner I get to sleep, the faster we may be able to find out."

"Goodnight, Elena," they chimed together.

"Night, Bonnie. Night, Caroline."

I hung up and stood up slowly and began to make my way to the stairs, my feet dragging across the floor.

"Elena," Rose called after me.

I turned but didn't say anything.

"He'll be okay. Just give it some time. Damon will find a way out."

I nodded and ascended the rest of the stairs. I crawled into bed feeling completely defeated. Silent tears escaped my eyes and blurred my vision to the point that I wasn't sure if I was falling asleep or waking up. Either way, I just hoped Damon would be wherever I was going.

* * *

><p><em>I was standing in the middle of an almost empty town square. The square was just a small garden in an open part of the street with a little bench. Little shops lined each side of the road. Most were painted with soft colors, whites and tans, anything that wouldn't stand out too greatly, though many were left without paint, the dark brown of the wood the only color to show. Some had signs, though they were simple: Apothecary, Liquor Store, Groceries. It was straightforward, easy. There was a road, but it was just packed down dirt that led off in different directions, some leading behind me to quaint little houses, others twisted off into the forest. The town seemed to end where the forest began not far away. The trees grew untouched, and the only sign that people occupied the area was the road winding away. Trees grew everywhere, behind the buildings, along the road, far off in the distance. The sun streamed in through the leaves, creating a green glow around the town and shadows of the leaves that fell to the ground in dark patches. The smell of pine and oak filled my lungs and the air all around. It was pure and clean. This place was absolutely beautiful.<em>

_The people who walked the road wore bright colors to counteract the dull buildings. The women wore elaborate skirts that cascaded to the ground, but didn't drag through the dirt. Each skirt had hoop underneath that stretched wide around the women, completely hiding the women's figures. The women also carried parasols and shawls draped around their shoulders. The women were covered in colors, brilliant colors, bright blues and greens and pinks. The men were dressed far simpler, waistcoats, matching pants and overcoats, leather boots up to mid-calf and button up shirt that left only the neck visible. The men only wore black, brown, gray, and navy blue. Like the buildings, they didn't stand out._

_I looked down to find myself dressed the same as the rest of the women. I had a dark, midnight blue dress that was made with a fabric that caught the light and reflected it. The skirt hung low and wide but was bunched into rows that wrapped around the entire circumference and were held up by small, sparkling flower pendants. The bodice was decorated with white velvet that crisscrossed around the entire front of the gown. The sleeves were white lace that covered my shoulders and the tops of my arms. The fabric was soft and smooth under my fingertips._

_I lifted my head from my dress and thoughts to seek out Damon. He was bound to be around here somewhere. Just as I began to think of him, he emerged from the apothecary in a suit the same color as my gown. He walked up to me and bowed slightly, one hand crossing his chest as he bent, and he offered a hand to me, open and his palm facing the sky. I put my hand in his, and he brought it to his smiling lips and left the whisper of a kiss across the top that made me spine tingle and my skin flush._

"_Miss Gilbert," his soft lips whispered against the skin of my hand, tickling it and sending a tiny tremor through my entire body. His voice was hushed but steady and sent new chills through me._

"_Mister Salvatore," I answered in far shakier voice._

_He finally released my hand and straightened his back. His dark hair was curled into loose ringlets around his face, something I'd never seen on Damon. It made him look far younger, and after long consideration in my head, I decided that it didn't suit him. The dark blue of his suit made the baby, crystal blue of his eyes stand out even more than they already did._

"_Where are we now?" I asked quietly._

"_This was Mystic Falls before the war started, before Katherine Pierce tried to bring this town to its knees, before vampires haunted every waking moment, a time when vampires were just a myth used to keep children in the house at night, and there was no war to steal the good gentleman away from their homes. Times were easier. Everyone knew their neighbor and was friendly to any stranger." Damon heaved a sigh as he looked around the small town. "There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South… Here in this pretty world Gallantry took its last bow… Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave… Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered… A Civilization gone with the wind…"_

_I smiled sadly at the quote. Damon held this place with such reverence and respect. I could hear it in the tone of his voice which was laced with a deep pitch of remembrance._

"_It's so beautiful, and different. It's hard to imagine that this is Mystic Falls."_

"_It's not too hard. Those two stores," he said pointing to the building on the left, "became the Grill. The apothecary became your father's office; the liquor store is still there."_

_As Damon began showing me all the things that still stood in modern day, I could see a small semblance of the Mystic Falls I knew. It was comforting to see that small piece of home wrapped up inside this wonderful place._

_Damon held out his arm, and I took it without hesitation. He led me through the town, telling me the histories of each building, the owners and previous owners and future owners. There was so much rich history surrounding this place. When we came back to the square after weaving through every shop, we sat on the bench and watched the birds dart from the trees to the ground in front of us just to peck around in the grass and fly back to the trees with their catch._

_We sat silently together, just enjoying the sounds the wind whistling softly through the leaves. As we sat, I tried to think of how to approach the subject of the locator spell. Damon was certain to be upset that I didn't listen to him and tried to find him. But I had to try, even if he didn't want me to, and I had to ask him if he knew where he was or if he knew any of the vampires he had turned. If we could figure out what vampires there were with a connection to Damon or Stefan, it would be easier to track down Damon and Stefan._

"_What's bothering you, Elena?" Damon's voice broke into my reverie of thought._

"_If I asked you a question," I started slowly, "would you answer it honestly?"_

"_One question?" Damon asked with a smile and a laugh._

_I nodded. "I guess I could," he answered._

"_How many people have you and Stefan turned into vampires?" I held my breath, afraid he might not answer._

_His face reflected his shock at the question. His eyebrows shot up and the smile he had been wearing all night fell slightly. "What makes you ask that?" I shrugged, not knowing how to answer and still holding my breath. "I've turned five vampires in my entire life, including Vickie, Caroline, and Isobel. The other two were just passing fancies that didn't last long, as humans or as vampires. As for Saint Stefan, he would never subject any living being to this life. Now why did you ask?"_

_His blue eyes burned into me, and I was scared for a moment to answer. "Bonnie did a locator spell…"_

"_Elena, I told you-"_

"_I know. I know, but I had to, Damon."_

"_Elena, it'll only take a few more days to get out of here. I've told you I don't want you risking a jail break for my sake." He took both my hands in his. "It's too dangerous, Elena. There are too many vampires. You could get hurt or worse. You promised me you'd stay safe and careful. You can't do that coming after me. And besides, what does a locator spell have to do with the vampires I've turned?"_

"_Well Caroline's blood could track you, your blood could track Stefan, and both of your bloods can track the vampires you've created," I explained quickly._

_Damon sighed, and I hung my head, almost feeling bad for the spell. Almost. "Well, what happened?" he asked after a moment of silence._

"_New Orleans and the middle of the desert in Nevada," I answered._

_Damon nodded slowly. "Elena…"_

"_I'm sorry, Damon. I had to try. You can't take on all those vampires by yourself. I want to help you, Damon. Let me help."_

"_Elena, I'll be fine. I can get out of here, just please be patient."_

_He waited until I nodded. "Now, let's take a walk; this dream has become a little too dark for my taste, and there are only a few more hours before you have to wake up."_

_Damon stood and helped me to my feet. He wrapped his arm around my waist and we followed the road into the forest, the weight of our conversation still hanging thickly in the air._

**This chapter was the hardest to write so far. Let me know what you thought about it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: All right-y sad news. This might, **_**might**_**, be the last update for awhile (but don't worry there will still be much more before the summer ends). I have church in the morning/ a few hours, Monday and Tuesday I have choir camp all day at school (great way to spend my summer), then I officially have to start my summer reading. I have to read The Crucible by Arthur Miller (English) and the many accompanying assignments and 1776 by David McCullough (History) and take notes, so my nights will be occupied with those for a few days or weeks… Hopefully days… This is why I am a math person. When in the history of time has there ever been summer reading for math?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries.**

_We were strolling along the dirt road that wound through the lush, green forest that surrounded Mystic Falls. We just followed the path, stepping aside when the occasional carriage passed, waving to the people inside and saying a warm southern greeting. I had no idea where the road would take us, and I didn't care to ask. I was sure it would be somewhere wonderful and beautiful, just like all the other places Damon had showed me in my dreams._

_The tension was beginning to break up between us. The wind that blew through the trees was carrying the thick air away from us and leaving a calm that accompanied most of these dreams. The strain between us was eased wordlessly, and it was a little easier to lean into Damon as we traveled down the road._

"_Doesn't this count as an inappropriate public display of affection in this time period?" I asked Damon, indicating his hand that was securely locked onto my waist._

_Damon laughed in the back of his throat, a low, warming chuckle. "Technically, yes, and if this really was eighteen-sixty and we were caught, we would bring shame to both our families, ruin our reputations, and become the talk of the town," he said in a mocking tone with another throaty laugh. "But couples used to take walks like this through the forest so they could have more physical contact other than just kisses on the hand and arms looped together, but the couples would have to sneak out and hope they wouldn't get caught because these walks were usually chaperoned, which means all inappropriate physical contact," he indicated with a tiny squeeze on my waist, "had to be left to secret walks."_

"_Talk about far different customs…," I whispered in awe._

_Damon chuckled again. "You would be amazed to see just how different the world you were raised in is compared to all the times I've lived through."_

"_You'll have to show me sometime," I whispered dreamily. "Take me through all the highlights of your history, all your favorite time periods, major events, fond memories. I want to see it all."_

_Damon's smile spread across his face, creating little lines in his cheeks and on the sides of his baby blue eyes. "All right. I'll show you sometime, but right now," Damon paused for a moment, "we are expected at the Lockwood's."_

"_The Lockwood's? Why are we going to the Lockwood's?"_

"_Because," Damon started, "from the very beginning, this town has always been obsessed with its founding. There is a party celebrating the foundation of Mystic Falls tonight, though not an official Founder's Party; that started later. This is just a nameless event for the founders, and as members of two of the founding families, we are obligated to attend."_

"_Seriously, aren't we both subjected to those enough when we're awake?"_

"_You think there are a lot of parties back there?" he questioned, waving his arm that wasn't holding me, signaling to nothing but the trees around us. "In these days, there was a party like those every single night."_

"_Ugh, how did you survive?"_

"_It wasn't so bad. There were always plenty of beautiful young women more than willing to dance with a charming, handsome southern gentleman," he said as he made his eyebrows dance in that flirty way that he always used._

"_I'm sure they were throwing themselves at you in a very un-lady-like fashion," I joked. "So how much farther is the Lockwood's?" I asked, changing the subject._

"_Right around this bend," he said pointing to a curve in the road only a few feet in front of us._

_Damon released his grip on my waist and moved us so that my hand was resting in the crook of his elbow. We walked slowly around the turn and stopped completely as the house came into view._

_This was the original Lockwood mansion. It was a two-story house made of deep red bricks. The front was lined with eight pillars, four on each side of the double-doors. The pillars were completely white which stood out with the red bricks behind them. They curled at the tops and bottoms like the pillars did in pictures of Greek architecture. A porch stretched around the house on both stories and were full of people, all talking and wearing the same type of clothes as everyone in town had worn today. The double-doors were oak with glass paneling across both sections. The top of the glass arched up to create the illusion of more space and allowed more light to escape from the inside. The glass had a design of straight lines that just crossed and intersected each other at odd angles that extended across the doors and grabbed and reflected the light, throwing it into a million different directions. The windows that were spaced across the front of the house had black shutters, and from the inside, I could see heavy drapes with red roses on a white background that were drawn to allow the light from inside to illuminate the outside portion of the party as the sun was setting behind us in the distance. I had never seen the Lockwood Plantation, not even in pictures. Mrs. Lockwood always said it was the most beautiful house she had ever seen, even if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes. I finally believed her. It was gorgeous, amazing, wonderful, beautiful, stunning, striking, spectacular, exquisite… I couldn't even think of enough words to put to this house._

"_Breathtaking, isn't it?" Damon whispered in my ear._

_I could only nod. I was too deep in awe to think of any words besides those that would describe this house._

"_Wait until you see the inside." We began walking again, and as we got closer, I noticed more details._

_The porches had many chairs and tables to accommodate the party guests. A small string quartet was standing in a corner, playing soft music that permeated the air. Lanterns were lit on each window sill and each had a distinct picture that created shapes on the ground under people's feet. One was crow that actually looked like it was flying with the flickering of the flame. Another was a wolf, and as I thought of where I was, it sent shivers down my spine._

_We ascended the steps and were greeted by George Lockwood who was wearing a black suit. His hair was slicked back, and as I stared at him, I could see the resemblance he held with Mayor Lockwood and Tyler. It was eerie to see such similarities. They had the same eyes, nose, lips, even the same ears._

"_Damon, it's nice to see you here," George held his hand out and Damon shook it. "I'm glad you could make it."_

"_Good evening, George," Damon said._

"_And who," George started, turning to see me, "is this?"_

_He looked me up and down, and the way his eyes were taking me in was making me extremely uncomfortable._

"_This is Elena Gilbert," Damon announced._

"_A Gilbert?" George's eyebrows rose at the name. "I'm George Lockwood," he introduced himself._

_George extended his hand. I gave him mine reluctantly, and he brought it to his lips. He held it there too long, and I pulled it away with force._

"_It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Lockwood," I lied._

"_The pleasure is all mine, Miss Gilbert," he answered with a smile that just furthered my unease._

"_Is he a-?" I asked as we were walking away, Damon's smirk growing with every step._

"_Werewolf?" Damon finished for me. "No, not yet, but he does play the part of an animal quite well, doesn't he?" He smirked at my uncomfortable stance. "No this was the time before vampires and werewolves and witches and war. Those things were only stories at this point."_

_When we got inside, I was taken aback by everything in front of me. Above me was a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling with crystals hanging in chains from each platform that held a lit candle. The chandelier caught the light all around it and cast rays of different colored light across the room, making a period fitting disco ball. The yellows, reds, oranges, and greens created by the crystals gave color to the entire house. A wide staircase took up most of the foyer. The stairs were dark wood with white banisters. The stairs started wide, then narrowed about twenty steps up and spread out again another twenty steps up, creating a curve on each side of the stairs. They led to an open space at the top of the stairs with chairs and a small table and a window large enough that it revealed the entire back yard. The upper level of the house was open, held in by white railings that matched the staircase. It was so airy and free. To the immediate left of us was the main room of the house. Many people were pressed together, standing too close for personal space. Another string quartet was playing in this room. The walls were painted a soft tan and decorated with portraits of the Lockwood family. The room to the immediate right was also filled with people but not nearly as many. This room was painted a slightly darker brown and held nothing on its walls. Every room was well lit, candles adorning every clear, flat surface._

_We made our way through the crowds on the right. We greeted people with "Good evening" and "how are you" as we weaved about. Damon began pointing out people that I would be able to recognize by their names, Forbes, Fell, Gilbert, Donovan. It was strange seeing my ancestors. Jonathan Gilbert held an amazing likeness to my father. It was unsettling. Everyone looked like the people I knew back at home. I had entered a world of living history and family._

"_It's… weird," I told Damon._

"_Maybe a little," Damon conceded. "Imagine what it was like to see you for the first time. You and Katherine have more than just a resemblance."_

_I remembered the first time I had actually seen Katherine with my own eyes. It was disturbing to actually witness how much we looked alike. We were perfectly identical on the outside. It sent chills through me to think of Katherine. I gripped Damon's arm a little tighter and tried to think of other things._

_Damon and I made it to the back of the house. "Would you like to see the most beautiful part of the Lockwood property?" Damon asked._

"_It gets more beautiful? Is that possible?" I questioned, not believing it._

"_Come on." Damon pulled out the backdoor and onto the lawn._

"_Where are we going?"_

"_You'll see, Elena."_

_We walked across the yard which was well kept but empty. It looked like we were making our way to a small hill that overlooked the entire property._

"_Close your eyes," Damon whispered into my ear. I complied, excited to find out what Damon wanted to surprise me with. I felt one of his hands wrap around my back and my waist and the other coiled around my knees, and he picked me up bridal style. There was a rush wind against my face for only a moment before my feet were back under me, Damon turned me slowly. He wrapped his arms around my body, his hands spread wide across my stomach. I put my hands on top of his and laced our fingers together. "Open your eyes, Elena." His breath tickled my ear and my neck._

_I opened them slowly. I gasped at the sight at the bottom of the hill. The house was lit from the inside out, and even from this distance, you could see the main details of the first few pillars. The house didn't disappear into the approaching night as the dark color would be expected to; instead, the light from the inside reflected back to make the house itself glow. Overhead the sky was painted with random, shapeless blobs of pinks and ambers and oranges and reds with the setting sun in front of the house. The tops of the trees of the forest around the property were outlined in the purple of the coming night. It was a moving, living, breathing masterpiece, something that belonged on canvas._

"_Wow," was the only word I could manage._

"_It is something," Damon agreed._

"_Could we just stay here for the rest of the night?" I asked, not wanting to move, not wanting to breathe, not wanting to blink. I just wanted to watch this world below us forever in Damon's arms, unmoving._

"_Of course," Damon answered._

_I leaned into him a little more, trying, unsuccessfully due to my skirts, to press every inch of my body against him. Damon just wrapped his arms around me tighter and rested his chin on my shoulder. We watched the sun completely set and the stars emerge into the night sky. I closed my eyes and breathed in clean air around us._

"_Elena?" Damon whispered against the sensitive skin of my neck._

"_Hmm?"_

"_Please stay safe and careful. Don't come after me just yet," Damon requested._

"_When? When do I come after you?"_

"_Not yet," was his only answer._

"_All right," I silently promised. I squeezed myself tighter to him, trying to hold onto the dream as long as I could until I felt everything, even his grip, slip away._

**Please review and let me know what you think.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: 1776 has been completed with no problems, and after reading the instructions for The Crucible and losing my temper, I have put it off for another day to take a break, calm my nerves, and give everyone a new chapter. I apologize for the great inconvenience and hope to have the story back on regular updates by Sunday. Please review.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries.**

A smile was stretched across my lips, a smile I couldn't help after a dream like that. I just laid in bed, my eyes closed, and thought of the night I had with Damon. But even a night like that couldn't stop the small, yet very sharp pang of want that stabbed me as I thought about Damon. I wanted him back, and Stefan.

When the sounds of the TV drifted upstairs to me, I finally opened my eyes and checked the time. It was almost noon.

I groaned and rolled out of the bed. I headed straight downstairs to see Rose perched on the couch, her legs crossed under her and her elbows on her knees. She glanced up as I walked past the living room.

"Someone finally decided to wake up," Rose said teasingly. "Your other friend, the peppy vampire, she called this morning, a couple of times actually. You are quite a heavy sleeper. I don't see how you didn't hear the telephone."

"Did she say anything?" I asked as I made a bowl of cereal. I sat on the other couch with my bowl and started eating.

"Just that you need to hurry up and wake up," Rose replied, laughing. "She had something on her mind, that was apparent, but what I don't know."

Rose shrugged and turned her attention back to the news on the TV. I watched it silently as ate my breakfast quickly, too curious about what Caroline was needing to talk about to worry about eating at a normal pace. When I was done, I washed my bowl and put it away. Hastily, I went upstairs and called Caroline. She answered on the first ring.

"Elena, it's about time you woke up. I need to know what happened last night," she said quickly, her words stringing together.

"Nothing happened," I told her, not knowing what had her so worked up. "Damon and I just walked around eighteen-sixties Mystic Falls for awhile. Why?"

"Damon didn't say anything about the locator spell? You did tell him, right? Do you know where he is?" Caroline was talking so fast that it was hard to understand her.

"Yeah I told him, but he didn't tell me where he was. He just said he still wants to try getting out on his own. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Did he say anything about the other vampires he and Stefan turned?" Caroline pressed instead of answering me.

"Yeah just Isobel, but Caroline, it doesn't change anything; we don't where she or he is. Now will you tell me what's going on?"

"Isobel is the only vampire they turned?" She avoided the question again.

"And you. Now Caroline, what is going on? Tell me. What's this all about?" I demanded.

"Bonnie and I were up all night trying to find some other way to track them. We figured out that there couldn't be too many other vampires with their blood because there were only two places, and then Bonnie remembered about Isobel, and she figured out a way to eliminate her from the locations. Your blood could track her."

"What?" I asked as her words sank in.

"If we could use you to track Isobel, wherever she is, Damon and Stefan aren't," she explained.

I was suddenly excited as I comprehended what this meant. I couldn't find anything to say. I was too lost in the idea of being able to find them.

"The only problem is we're here and you're there. Bonnie and I would have to come to you so Bonnie could do the spell, and that would mean leaving Mystic Falls unattended for however long we're gone, and it would be _way_ too dangerous for you to come back home."

This pulled me out of my excitement for a moment. I was too caught up with the possibility of having Damon and Stefan safe that it didn't occur to me that Bonnie had to be here to do the spell.

"But there hasn't been any other vampires around here since that night, and Bonnie, Alaric, and I all think it would be okay to leave for a few days. Alaric said he can watch out for Jenna and Jeremy until we get back."

"Wait, you and Bonnie are coming here?" I asked, too overwhelmed to understand everything she was saying.

"If that's okay…," Caroline trailed off.

I thought for a minute. This was a definite way to find him, but Damon said he didn't want me coming after him; I had told him I _wouldn't_ come after him. But if we did this, we could have them out of wherever they were faster. I could have them back. "You'd have to sleep on the couch," I told her, making my decision. "This house is a little small; there are only two bedrooms."

"That's fine. We can deal. How soon do you want us?" she asked.

"As soon as possible. How soon can you get here?"

"We'll be on the first flight to Houston. I'll call you later with the details so you can pick us up at the airport. I have to go pack."

"Wait Caroline, make sure that you're careful. Just because you don't see any vampires doesn't mean there aren't any," I warned. "Try to make sure no one follows you."

"Don't worry, Elena. We will be extremely cautious," she guaranteed.

I hung up the phone. I could feel the joy swelling inside me. This was the way to find them, the plan that would work, the method that couldn't fail.

"He won't be happy when he finds out what you're planning," Rose said. She was leaning against the wardrobe, her arms crossed across her chest. This broke through my happiness. No, Damon wouldn't be happy at all; he would be absolutely furious if he found out.

"That's why I don't plan on telling him. He can't keep me from coming after him, Rose. We have to save him," I said with a firm absolution. "We have to."

Rose slowly nodded after a moment. "I don't think this is a good idea, but…" Rose shrugged as she started down the stairs.

I got up off the bed and took a shower. I didn't stay in long, just long enough to clean my hair. I went over to the wardrobe. I stopped when I saw the side full of Damon's clothes. I ran my fingers over them slowly, feeling the soft fabric. I took one of his t-shirts off the hanger and put it on, inhaling the strong, masculine scent. It made me feel better and restored my hope for our new plan. I put on my jeans and went back downstairs.

Rose was back on the couch, her eyes set on the screen. Some show I'd never seen was on. I continued on to the library, and picked up a random volume of the Salvatore history. I opened to a page and began reading. I just needed something to pass the time until Caroline called.

I spent an hour just reading the stories that surrounded the Salvatore family before the phone rang.

"Hey we got an early flight. We can be there tomorrow morning around eleven," she said.

"Great," I replied. "We'll be there to pick you up."

"Cool. I still have to pack, and Bonnie will be by in an hour. She said something about a vampire detector something I'm not sure, but we have to come up with a story to explain our disappearance."

"Thank you, Caroline. And send my thanks to Bonnie. You don't know what this means to me," I told her.

"You're welcome, Elena. I have to go."

"Bye Caroline, I'll see you in the morning."

"Oh and Elena, you might want to consider going to bed early tonight," she suggested. "After all, you can't sleep late tomorrow, and I'm sure Damon wouldn't like his time cut short."

"And I thought you had to pack," I said, brushing off the suggestive comment.

"Bye, Elena."

I hung up the phone and went back to my reading. I read until it was time for dinner. Rose made some pasta dish that we both shared. When we were done, I cleaned everything up since Rose cooked and then went upstairs.

I found myself unable to sleep. I think it was due to the delight and excitement that was still coursing through my veins. I couldn't sleep, no matter how much I wanted to. I tried to fall asleep with the TV on, classical music from a radio I found in one of Damon's nightstands, even counting sheep. Nothing worked. I finally gave up and grabbed Damon's journal, thinking that getting the enthusiasm out on paper would calm me down and let me sleep, let me dream.

_Dear Damon's Diary_ _,_

_There is a way to get him back. We can find them, and maybe in a few days we can all go home and be safe. If this works, and this has to work, I'll have him back. Damon will be okay, and I won't have to settle for just dreaming about him. And we can save Stefan. We don't have to wait much longer._

_The only problem is I promised Damon that I would stay safe and that I wouldn't come after him. He would be furious if he knew I even thought about coming after him. He wants so badly for me to stay safe._

_But I can't let him sit there, not if there's a way to save him. I have to take this chance, I will take this chance even if I know he wouldn't want me to._

I closed the book and put it back on the nightstand. My eyes were growing heavier. The journal had helped. I closed my eyes and found no trouble falling asleep.

* * *

><p><em>I was in the middle of a field full of tall grass. The green grass was all I could see around me for miles. A soft wind swept across the vast openness, blowing the blades of grass in many directions. The golden light from the sun was bright and warming, covering the entire field.<em>

"_Damon?" I called. He was nowhere to be seen, just lush, green grass everywhere. "Damon, where are you?"_

"_Right here Elena," his voice whispered into my ear. I turned around to find him standing directly behind me._

_He was wearing a normal black v-neck t-shirt and black jeans, typical Damon attire. His hair was back to normal, no longer the loose curls he had during our last dream. He was smirking, the corners of his lips pulled up at the corners. His baby blue eyes were full of mischief. A tiny flutter entered my stomach at the thought that I might not have to wait too long before I would actually see him like this._

"_Why do you _do_ that?" I asked. "Why do you always sneak up on me?"_

"_It's fun to hear your little heart skip, even if we are in your dreams," he replied._

_I rolled my eyes and laughed. "So where are we?"_

"_I don't know," he answered. "I didn't feel like making anything elaborate, so I went for simple."_

"_Well that's no fun." I closed my eyes for a second to plan out the rest of our dream. When I opened my eyes, we were behind Damon's house. It was close to sunset, but there was still plenty of light. The water was glistening with the evening glow._

"_You aren't tired of this house when you're awake?" Damon asked._

"_We're not here for the house," I informed him._

"_We're not?"_

"_Nope," I popped the 'p' as I said it. "You are just going to have to follow me."_

_I began to walk toward the water's edge, knowing Damon would be right behind me. When we got closer to the water, a small dock came into view. A sailboat was tied up. It was red with white sails and black seats. It wasn't large, just small enough to hold a few people. It was bobbing gently with the waves, rocking to and fro._

"_Take me sailing?" I asked Damon, holding my hand out to him._

_He looked at the boat for a minute before accepting my hand and leading me to the dock._

**Please review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Still not done with summer reading… Almost done, only a few small things to do. I really wish that I could just write forever… no job… no school… Perfection… I must really apologize that this has taken so long and that it has basically stopped the story for a while. I hate that I haven't been able to write as much in the past couple weeks and hate even more that you all most suffer. So I'm going to quit typing so you can read.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries.**

_Damon stepped one foot on to the deck, keeping the other braced on the dock as he held the boat in place as best he could and helped me on board, never releasing my hand. Once Damon came the rest of the way onto the deck and he finally let go of my hand, he wordlessly began to mess with the sails, tying this rope, pulling that one. He untied us from the deck and raised the anchor. While he was working, I took a seat at the front of the boat with my legs tucked underneath me. I was facing the inside of the boat so I could watch Damon, but I still had a view of the bay around us._

_Damon angled the sails to catch the wind, and we began to drift away from the land and into the open water._

_Damon came and sat next to me. I turned my body toward him and put my feet over his legs with my knees bent to arch over his thighs, and I tucked my head into his shoulder. Damon sat up for a second to allow me to wrap my arms securely around his torso. Damon draped one arm gently across my shoulders and the other hugged my knees closer to his chest._

_We didn't say anything, just held each other. I felt Damon's fingers lightly stroking the ends of my hair and the outside of my left thigh, and I traced little circles on the side of his ribcage. This was peaceful and calm. The water around us was clear blue, not the murky brown that it would have really been; it reflected the coming sunset, the darker blues and pinks mixing with the clear blue of the water. The boat's gentle bob over the swells of the waves was lulling and soothing. The wind was softly sweeping around us, filling the air with a light salty aroma._

_When the shore was barely visible on the horizon, I fixed my gaze on Damon. He was wearing his black button up shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbow and his black jeans. The top of his shirt was unbuttoned so I could see the tops of the well toned muscles underneath. His chin was decorated with stubble, just a little more than a five o-clock shadow. His dark hair was tousled slightly by the wind and falling into his eyes. He was staring down at me with those piercing, deep crystalline blue eyes. We just locked our eyes together, both of us lost in the depths of the other, and if this wasn't a dream or Damon, I would think I was being compelled._

"_How are you?" I whispered quietly, finally breaking the silence._

"_I'm fine," he said with a smile to help verify his statement. "I'm almost ready to attempt my escape. I haven't heard anything on Stefan which might cause some problems but…" He shrugged slightly._

_I reburied my face in his shoulder. "What is the plan exactly?"_

"_Pick the lock, find something to use for stakes; then I find Stefan, kill anyone that gets in my way and steal the first car I can find to get me home to you," he explained nonchalantly._

"_You make it sound easy," I huffed. To me, it sounded crazy. Damon had said before that there were a lot of vampires, and he was just going to take them all on? And who knows what state Stefan would be in? Damon could struggle with a fight if he had to help Stefan. It sounded dangerous and down right stupid. "You shouldn't be doing it alone, Damon. Let me help you, please. It's too dangerous…"_

"_I can't protect you and deal with Stefan, Elena. They want you anyway. You need to stay hidden. I can't worry about you…I just need to know you are safe now and will be safe until I can protect you again myself," he said with a strong resolve._

"_I can't change your mind at all…?" I asked a little dejectedly._

"_I promise you, Elena, that Stefan and I will get out of here as alive as we were when we came in," he said into my hair, his cheek now resting on the top of my head. A breath of a laugh escaped me, even though I tried to stop it. I pulled myself closer to him._

"_I'll hold you to that promise."_

"_I know," he answered, and I could hear the smile in his voice._

_I looked around the deck again. "So do you have a boat?" I asked him, wanting to get off this heavy subject._

"_I have a house right on the water, Elena. It would make sense that I have a boat." He paused and looked around our little sailboat. "This, however, is a far cry from it."_

_I laughed. I would expect that. "Show me?" I requested._

_Without an answer, the scenery around us morphed. The sun had completely vanished from the sky. It was replaced by a glittering sea of stars. The dark water around us and sky were covered in these beautiful sparkling diamonds. We were no longer sitting on a small bench at the bow of our boat, instead we were sitting on a large, dark couch, much higher off the water. A silver rail enclosed this sitting area we occupied. A round wooden table stood on each end of the couch, a wine glass full of light gold bubbling liquid on each one. A long rectangular wooden table the same length as the couch was in front of us. The floor was a deeper color wood, a mahogany perhaps. A spiraled stair case led down from this little overlooking platform. I turned back to Damon and was shocked when I saw him. He was wearing a black tuxedo with a white shirt and a dark red tie. His tie was loosened a bit and the first button of his shirt was undone. He looked sharp and relaxed simultaneously. His hair was no longer thrown around his eyes but back in place and framing his face perfectly._

"_This is your boat?" I asked him. I peeked over his shoulder and the rail to see that we were at least fifty feet above the water. I pulled my head back quickly; the water seemed too far away for comfort._

"_Yep, down to every last bolt," Damon answered. "Would you like a tour, Elena?" he asked, his eyes doing that flirting thing and raking over me like he was thinking about biting my neck._

_I moved to sit up but noticed I wasn't wearing the same thing I was on the other boat. Instead of a pair of jeans and t-shirt, I now wore a deep red full length evening gown, the same color as Damon's tie. It was strapless with a sweetheart neckline. Tiny white jewels created a floral pattern that covered the top of the gown. The gown was split up to my right hip with little pick-ups every couple of inches. The dress flowed down to my ankles and rippled all around my feet. Lifting it just a little, I saw a pair of simple and elegant silver strappy heels on my feet._

"_What am I wearing? And why am I wearing it?" I asked, completely confused. "It's beautiful but… why?"_

_Damon laughed a little in the back of his throat. "You'll see later. For now, I'll show you around."_

_We stood up and made it over to the staircase. I stopped as I looked down at the rest of the yacht. We had a view of the entire deck. To the stern were a few wooden chaises with gold cushions facing out to the water. Each had a small table like those next to the couch we had been sitting on. The rest of the deck was open. We descended the stairs and Damon led me straight through a glass door and into another sitting room. This one was equipped with another dark couch with gold pillows facing a flat screen TV. These wooden floors were covered with a large gold rug._

"_This is the living area," Damon said. "Not much to it. You never really need a lot on a boat. It creates it's entertainment. Skiing, fishing, swimming…" He shrugged._

_As we began to walk to the next room, Damon wrapped his arm around my waist so that his fingertips brushed against the exposed skin of my hip. Every time he moved his fingers left a feather-light touch that sent waves of electricity through my entire body. It was amazing what he could do to me with just a small graze against my skin._

"_This," Damon informed, "is the dining room."_

_A round oak table big enough to hold six people stood in the middle of the room set for dinner with gold plates and glasses. Black napkins laid next to the plates. The chairs had black seats with gold trimming. The walls had artwork of golden swirls on a red background. A small chandelier with four branches hung from the ceiling._

"_Then," Damon started, moving toward the next door, "we have the master suite."_

_He opened the room to reveal a larger room than I had seen on the boat so far. Most of the space was filled with the bed, though there was still room to move about comfortably. The bed had a plain black comforter with gold and red twisted trimming. Above the head of the bed was a small porthole that showed the water, and instead of a normal ceiling, it was just glass, so you could lay on the bed and gaze up at the stars. There was a door on each side of the bed that I assumed to be closets._

"_And then, through that door," Damon said pointing to the closed door a few feet away from us, "is the passage to the kitchen and then the stairs down to the servants' quarters."_

"_Servants' quarters?" I asked._

"_Typically I sail with a crew of three, the captain, his assistant, and a cook," he clarified. "Depending on how long the voyage will be, I might bring along someone to keep everything straightened, but usually I try to keep the number of people to a minimum."_

_I nodded my understanding. This boat would be hard to maintain alone, but everything was so peaceful; too many people would destroy the atmosphere._

"_There's one last stop on our tour," Damon said as we began to make our way back to the deck._

_Damon guided us to the bow of the ship to another spiral staircase. We walked up the steps to a room above the living space we just walked through. This was the bridge, full of dials and gages and different color lights. In the middle of the room stood the helm, a giant wooden wheel. It looked a little out of place in this room with all the high tech equipment, but it fit with the rest of the boat. The entire room was open with three-hundred sixty degrees of windows so you could the water and boat from every angle._

_Damon moved behind the wheel and rested his chin on top. He watched me as I moved around the room, lightly touching every button and lever, and glancing around at the endless waters around us. Damon seemed amused watching me explore everything._

"_Wow…" I said once I had looked over everything._

"_Just a little houseboat to travel around in when I'm in town," Damon said, sounding almost indifferent._

"_Little houseboat?" I asked, shocked. "This isn't even a boat; it's a ship."_

_Damon laughed. "I will show you a real ship later, but that will have to be saved for another dream," Damon said, not giving anymore information._

"_So we've seen everything?" Damon nodded his response. "Then are you going to explain to me why we are dressed up?"_

_Damon said nothing just came up to me and put his arm around my waist again. His fingers were no longer just brushing against my hip. He was now tracing little things across my skin. I felt him draw some circles, a couple of triangles, once he spelled out his name. It was driving me crazy, but I couldn't find the strength to stop him._

_We were almost to the stern of the boat when the boat shook a little._

"_What was that?" I asked, looking around the waters for any signs of waves or something else that could move the ship like that._

"_I don't know," Damon said. He was now standing closer to me, the protective stance he always took._

_The boat shook again, move violently this time. The chairs and tables were being thrown about, on their sides, over the rail._

"_How is this happening?" I asked frantically._

_The boat was starting to tip to the left side. Damon starting moving us back toward the door of the interior cabin. One of the tables from the upper deck came falling down to crash where Damon and I were just standing. Suddenly the boat shifted back to the right, and I fell to the deck and started slipping with the ship._

"_Damon!" I shouted as I tried to grab onto something, anything. I felt the deck disappear under my feet, then my legs. Then I felt the water around me._

"_Elena!" Damon was yelling. "Elena! Elena!"_

_I saw him jump over the rail and into the now raging waters. I felt the water washing over my head time and time again as Damon struggled to make his way to me._

"_Elena!" he kept on calling. Every time he said my name, it changed. His voice sounded different, but it could have just been the water that was flooding my ears._

"_Damon!" I tried to call once more before I was sucked under the powerful torrents. I was being pulled further and further under to an unknown, frightful destination._

**Please review and let me know what you think.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I stole a term my sister always uses about us sleeping and promised to give her credit for it so… Credit to my sister. I have kept my promise. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. You are all awesome. So sorry I haven't updated earlier. It was terribly cruel, but I lost inspiration and words evaded me (watching Bloodlines, Miss Mystic Falls, Founder's Day, Rose, and As I Lay Dying didn't even help), but it's all back now. So here you go. New chapter. Enjoy. Please review.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries.**

"Elena!" came Damon's distorted voice.

"Damon…," I answered, still trying to get to him. The water felt like it was getting thicker around me, consuming me, hindering me as I fought to break away from it's pull. All I could do was thrash around and yell for Damon.

"Elena, wake up. You have to wake up," his distant, altered, softer voice called to me. It was so garbled that it barely even sounded like his.

"Damon… I can't… Help me… What's happening?" I kept yelling toward where he was.

I was still being thrown around, rocking back and forth with no stop; though now it felt more like I was shaking. I opened my eyes, trying to get a hold on the situation, to find Damon and get back to him. Instead, Damon was nowhere in sight, not even a shadow of him. The sight above me was not the same endless dark as before. It was much brighter, and it was all swirling so fast I couldn't make anything out to get my bearings. The movement now stopped but everything was swimming sickeningly around me, colors blending together and shapes bending out of form.

"Finally, hurry up." There was no longer even a hint of Damon's voice. It was one-hundred percent Rose's. I rolled over, and after a few seconds, my vision focused, and I saw her standing over me.

"Rose?" I rubbed my eyes, trying to be sure that I wasn't seeing things. "What is it? What's wrong?" My head was still swimming on my shoulders, and I felt a little dizzy.

"I apologize that I had to pull you away from your 'Damon dreamland,' but we have to leave soon to pick up your friends from the airport. Get up and get dressed; we need to leave in about twenty minutes," Rose said, turning on her heels and going downstairs.

I groaned and threw my head back on the pillow, not wanting to get up yet. Well that explained why the dream went wrong and chaotic. Damon was probably freaking out right now. First the storm, then me falling in, and now I was awake and no longer in the dream with him. He was most likely still looking for me, but he wouldn't find me, and he would be so worried when he didn't. He would think I was hurt or the vampires that took him had found me or worse.

"I'm all right," I whispered to his empty room around me, praying he would somehow get the message. "Please don't worry about me too much."

I stood up and quickly showered and threw on jeans and one of Damon's t-shirts. I towel dried my hair and brushed it back into a loose ponytail. I headed downstairs and found one of Damon's leather jackets hanging in the closet next to the front door.

"Ready?" Rose asked as I slipped my shoes on.

"Yes," I answered quietly.

We walked into the garage, and I slid into the passenger's side. Once Rose was in, I noticed what she was wearing. She had on a long sleeve, heavy, black turtleneck shirt, black gloves, and a pair of large black glasses that covered most of her face. She opened the vanity mirror so that the shadow fell over the rest of her face. She was trying to hide from the sun.

"Rose, I could go pick them up, so you don't have to test the sunlight," I offered.

"It's fine Elena. There are ways to avoid the sun. I got us here during the daytime before if you remember," she said. "It'll be fine."

I nodded and shrugged my shoulders. We pulled out of the garage and started for the airport.

A short, silent trip later, we pulled up at the airport. Because it was almost Christmas, it was crowded with cars lining every sidewalk and people bustling around between them and into the street making a dangerous obstacle course. After five minutes of weaving around through the disorder, we spotted Caroline and Bonnie standing on the curb with their suitcases sitting on the ground at their feet. Bonnie was wearing a light purple sweater and jeans with her hair falling loosely into her eyes. Caroline had a dark blue top on with a denim jacket and jeans. I hopped out of the car as soon as it was stopped, excited to see them after these few days away.

"Elena!" Caroline and Bonnie both squealed when they saw me.

"Caroline! Bonnie!" I returned as we all hugged.

"How are you?" Bonnie asked as we all started making our way through the crowds toward the car.

"I'm fine," I told her, smiling to reassure them.

"How's Damon?" Caroline inquired, her face covered with concern.

"Right now I don't know," I admitted. "This morning, Rose had to wake me up so we could come pick you up, but it crossed over into the dream."

"What happened?" questioned Bonnie.

"Damon and I were on his boat, but then it started to list, and I fell into the water. Damon tried to get to me, but I was pulled under. Then I woke up…," my voice trailed off. "It was terrifying. I'm sure Damon thinks something happened to me…"

"It's gonna be okay, Elena," Bonnie said, taking my hand and giving it a comforting squeeze.

"Yeah," Caroline agreed. "And when we get home you can take a nap while we get settled in. You can explain everything to Damon, straighten everything out, tell him that you're okay, and then, when you wake up, Bonnie can do the tracking spell, and we can start our plan on how we are going to get them back."

"What about Stefan? Have you heard anything? Does Damon know what happened to him?" Bonnie asked.

"Stefan?" I repeated. I leaned on the side of the car crossing my arms and staring at the sidewalk. "We don't know anything yet…"

"Well, maybe Damon knows something now," Caroline said, trying to brighten things up. "Let's get home, so you can check in with Damon, 'kay?"

"Yeah," I replied, trying to be cheerful, "maybe…"

Bonnie and Caroline stuffed their bags into the trunk, and then tried to cram themselves into the small backseat.

"So how has everyone been at home?" I asked as we drove off.

"Jenna's freaking out," Caroline said. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone _that_ mad."

"Really?" I sighed. "I don't know what else to do… I told her I went out of town with Stefan, and I don't want to call her again. I'll just have to keep making things up and making _more_ things up because I can't tell her that my vampire boyfriend and his vampire brother were taken by these other vampires who are working for an original that wants to kill me for some ancient sacrifice…"

"That would be hard to explain," Bonnie agreed.

"Maybe you could tell her that you came with me to see my dad over the Christmas break," Caroline suggested. "You were with Stefan and stopped by for a visit on your way back. That should buy you a few extra days, at most until the end of the break."

"But," Bonnie added, "we'll hopefully have Stefan and Damon back before then."

"How's everyone else?" I asked.

"Jeremy's fine," Bonnie answered. "He's a little worried about you, obviously, but he's okay."

"Does he know that you're here?" I asked.

"No," she answered, "we knew he would want to come with us if he knew what we were doing."

"I probably need to call him later… What about Alaric?"

"He was happy to help when we told him we had a way to find them," Caroline chimed in. "And the full moon's in a few days… Hopefully we find Damon and Stefan before then, so we can get back, and I can help Tyler through the transformation. Matt's barely talking to me…"

"He just needs time Caroline," I told her. "He's still upset over what happened at the masquerade party. It will be all right once everything's calmed down."

A strong silence fell over the car and lasted until we got to the house. I spent the rest of the trip watching everything zoom past us until we reached the trees that lined Damon's driveway. We pulled into the garage, and I helped Bonnie and Caroline carry their bags upstairs.

"This place is amazing," Caroline said, looking around.

"And it's so Damon," Bonnie agreed.

"But it's small," I countered, leading the up the stairs. "You'll each have to take a couch because there's only this room and the one downstairs that Rose uses. We can all share the wardrobe though."

"Bonnie can use my room," Rose called up from the bottom of the stairs. "Caroline and I have little need to sleep." Caroline nodded her head in agreement.

"There's a solution I guess." I shrugged.

"Well _you_," Caroline started, pointing at me and then motioning to the bed that I failed to make up this morning, "need to sleep while Bonnie and I unpack. Tell Damon we say hi."

"But don't tell him we're here. He might not be happy to know what we're planning," Bonnie said.

I crawled onto the bed, slipping only one leg under the covers, and pulled one of the pillows to my chest. The bed was soft and cool underneath me.

"Make yourselves at home, but be careful of the curtains. Rose can't handle the sun," I said as I buried my head into more pillows and closed my eyes, willing myself to sleep until the noises of Caroline and Bonnie shuffling around the room disappeared and the darkness that I had feared only hours before, the darkness that had dragged me away from Damon consumed me once more with a purpose of reuniting me with him.

* * *

><p><em>When the darkness gave way, I was standing in my room back home. I looked around, a smile growing on my face as I saw that it was in fact my room. Everything was in place; it was exactly like it was when I left. I walked over to the bed and picked up my brown teddy bear and hugged him tightly; it was comforting to hold this little piece of my childhood. I put him back in his spot, patting his furry head lightly and went over to the dresser. I looked at all the pictures that lined the mirror, Jenna sitting on the couch, Jeremy when he was little, my mom and dad at the lake house. A small tear escaped the corner of my eye as I looked at them. I sighed softly. In the mirror, I noticed my diary was sitting on my window seat, a pen resting on the cover. I was tempted to walk over and jot down a few thoughts, but a different, more important thought came into my head.<em>

"_Damon?" I called, turning around and searching for him, wondering why he wasn't here yet._

"_Elena?" I heard his voice call from the hall._

_I ran out to find him standing at the top of the stairs. His forehead was covered with lines of concern, and he was standing rigidly, gripping the banister tightly, the muscles under his black shirt more tense than usual. His blue eyes looked me up and down thoroughly; the worry was apparent deep within them._

"_Damon," I said rushing up to him as soon as I saw him, wrapping my arms around his neck._

"_Elena are you okay?" he asked embracing me back gently. The stress released from his muscles as he held me. "What happened last night? Are you hurt? What happened?" He pulled back to look me over again, checking for wounds that weren't there. He pressed his hand against my cheek, and I leaned into the soft touch._

"_I'm fine. I'm not hurt," I told him. "It was just Rose. She had to wake me up, and apparently what happened out there turned into what we saw last night. It was nothing."_

_I pulled him back to me and buried my head in his chest. He rested his chin on the top of my head and stroked my hair from the base of my neck to the ends._

"_I'm sorry that that happened," I whispered._

"_It's all right, Elena. _You're_ all right."_

_I smiled and turned my face up to look at him. He stared back down at me with those crystal blue eyes, his hair falling around his face. "And you're all right," I said._

_He smiled back at me, gently tucking loose strands of hair behind my ear._

"_Now that that's straightened out, what are we going to do with the short time we have left in this nap?" I asked him._

"_Whatever you want, Elena," he said with his smooth velvet voice._

_I thought for a minute of all the possibilities, finally settling on something simple. "Let's take a walk," I suggested. I took his hand in mine, lacing our fingers together and pulled him with me down the stairs and out the front door._

**Again SUPER sorry. Please review.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Here is the last official update before school starts :'(. I want to get this last chapter out to make up for my terrible lack of update after the last chapter before chaos strikes tomorrow. I apologize that I didn't respond to all the reviews last chapter but THANK YOU! I've been writing all day trying to get this up for y'all. Please enjoy and review.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries.**

_The sun was shining down on us, directly overhead, too bright for any shadows, but a cool breeze was blowing around us, lightly grazing across out faces. Dark red brick houses and home with white siding, well maintained with various cars parked in the driveways, lined both sides of the street. Trees stood proudly in all the front yards, branches swaying in the wind and emitting a green glow from the sun shining through the leaves. We were the only people here; this was truly our own little peaceful Mystic Falls._

_We were walking with our hands still laced together and close enough that the tops of our shoulders brushed with every step we took. I kept glancing at Damon every few seconds, always to meet his crystal blue eyes locked on my face. I don't think his eyes ever moved. He was watching me so intently, obviously thinking about something, and giving me a look like he was waiting for me to break or another catastrophe like last night to happen._

"_So what did Rose need anyway?" Damon asked once we were about halfway down the street, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen over us._

"_What do you mean?" I questioned, my forehead creasing with my confusion._

"_This morning, why did she wake you up?" he clarified._

"_Oh… uh," I started to stammer, "s-she needed me to… go to the store for her. She was trying to cook and didn't have any… eggs," I tried to lie._

_Damon's eyebrows shot up skeptically. I shrugged my head and nodded, trying to look believable. "Rose is actually a really good cook. She's been taking good care of me."_

_Damon didn't say anything, just turned his attention to the sidewalk in front of us, finally releasing me from his strong gaze. I could tell by the way he set his jaw that he didn't completely believe me, or even barely believe me for that matter. But he didn't address it, just let the subject fall away._

_I released his hand and slipped my arm around his torso. He put his own arm over my shoulders, and I reached up and reclaimed his hand, our joined fingers resting on the bare skin of my shoulder. We easily fell into step with each other, our strides even and comfortable. We were in no hurry; we were just glad to hold each other, knowing that, at least for the moment, we were both okay._

_We reached the corner of the street and stopped. Damon looked down at me, his eyebrows raising quizzically. "Where to Elena?" he asked, his voice full of charm._

_I looked to the left. There was a street almost identical to the one we were on. To the right, a few more houses stood on both sides of the street, but after the fourth or fifth house, the street abruptly ended with the start of the dense forest. Tall trees towered over the houses, crowded together closely. Very little light made its way to the ground, the branches gathered too thickly to allow the light in. The trees were so compact, I could barely see fifteen feet into the dark forestry._

_I gently pulled Damon to the right and he followed me without hesitation. We weaved in between the large brown trunks, branches snapping and popping under out feet. Every inch of the ground was covered with layers of brown and yellow leaves. It was much colder in here without the sunlight to heat the air around us. I pulled myself closer to Damon to keep warm._

_We had only walked about twenty feet into this heavy jungle when Damon stopped suddenly. I jerked as I kept walking but was pulled back by our joined hands. I rubbed my shoulder as I turned to Damon, confused and worried that something was wrong, but before I could say anything, Damon said the one thing I didn't want to hear._

"_What are you hiding, Elena?" he demanded. His icy blue eyes bore into mine, and I felt like I was frozen into place, and I could barely breathe. Chills ran down my spine as I realized that he knew. He might not know about Bonnie and Caroline and the spell, but he knew I was going to break his promise and that I was going to do exactly what he said not to._

"_What do you mean?" I asked, not ready to confess. I looked down at the ground, avoiding his smothering, piercing gaze._

"_Rose wouldn't send you to the store alone, not when there is an ancient vampire on the loose looking for you, so why did she _really_ wake you up?" His voice didn't hide a bit of the anger that was there._

_I worked up the courage to look him in the eye, defiance growing inside me. "We had to pick Bonnie and Caroline up at the airport," I told him. I set my jaw tightly, making my decision. Damon wouldn't stop me, not this time, not when it could mean he could get hurt or killed. If he wanted to know what I was planning, he could know, but I wouldn't allow him to prevent me from helping him._

"_Because Bonnie's going to use your blood to find Isobel, therefore finding me and Stefan, is that it?" Damon asked rhetorically, his eyebrows knit together in a frown. That threw me off guard and Damon obviously caught it. "I thought about that the moment you told me about the locator spell, but I didn't say anything because I knew you would be stupid enough to do it. I told you Elena. You need to stay where you are. Do. Not. Come. After. Me," he said, making his point totally clear._

"_Why not Damon? If this was the other way around, you wouldn't hesitate to come after me. I'm just doing what you are always doing with me. I don't want to be saved when I'm trying to protect those I care about on one of my 'kamikaze missions,' but you come waltzing in ready to save the day. I just took a page from your book Damon, and remember: imitation is the most sincere form of flattery," I almost yelled. The sarcasm and anger were thick in the air around us. I tried to calm down, but it was hard. The edges of the scenery around us were starting to blur, though I wasn't sure if I was waking up or the anger was just too much._

"_It takes a lot more to hurt me Elena. You on the other hand are fragile and can be hurt or killed too many different ways. I won't let that happen, Elena. Your life is too important." Now Damon was yelling, and the tension between us was growing with every word._

"_So I'm just supposed to wait here for you to try and make it out of a vampire infested place while you also have to help Stefan and I have to hope you both make it out?" I shouted back. "No way. I don't think so Damon. Like it or not I'm coming to save you." The edges of the dream began to muddle even more to the point that all that was left was Damon and me._

"_Don't do it, Elena," he said, a tiny plea breaking through the anger._

"_I'm sorry Damon, but I won't let you risk it."_

_His eyes darkened with his burning fury. Everything in the dream disappeared but those eyes, staring into me, begging me, warning me._

* * *

><p>I sat up in bed, my eyes popping open, my heart racing in my chest. The angry fire was still burning in my chest. Everything I saw was darker than it should have been. I gritted my teeth wanting to scream.<p>

"Elena?" Caroline's voice came from the foot of the bed. I turned to see her sitting on the opposite corner of the bed. "You've been yelling in your sleep for about an hour now. What happened?"

I rubbed my eyes and forehead, trying to massage the frown muscles. My face ached and I could tell that I had been shouting because my throat was dry and burned as I tried to swallow.

"It's nothing," I croaked. "Where is Bonnie? We need to do the spell now."

"Are you sure, Elena? What just happened while you were asleep?"

"Go. Get. Bonnie," I commanded, my anger still present.

Caroline disappeared with her vampire speed. I stood and went to the bathroom. I splashed my face with cool water trying to calm down. I no longer cared what Damon had to say or what he wanted. I was going to do this my way.

Bonnie and Caroline came rushing up the stairs with Rose in tow. I came out of the bathroom, taking deep breaths to ensure that I was going to stay calm.

"I'm sorry I blew up on you like that Caroline," I apologized.

"What happened Elena?" Bonnie asked.

"Damon figured out what we're going to do. To say the least he wasn't happy. I don't care; we're doing it anyway," I said with firm absolution.

"Elena are you sure-" Caroline tried to question.

"We are going to find him Caroline," I interrupted. "I don't care what we have to do, what he has to say; I'm getting him back."

No one said anything; we all just stood there, staring at each other. Caroline finally nodded her head, slowly and turned to Bonnie. Bonnie looked at her. then to me. "All right," she said. I saw Rose start to shake her head disapprovingly from the corner of my eye, but I ignored it.

Bonnie sat on the floor and started to set things up from a bag sitting next to the corner of the bed. She laid out a map of the U.S. and candles all around it. She pulled the old, leather-bound, worn grimore from the bag and opened to a page. "Elena," she said pointing to the empty space in front of her. I sat down on my knees facing her. "Give me your hand," she instructed, holding out her own. I put mine in hers, my palm facing the ceiling. She produced a knife from the bag and pressed it down into the skin of my palm. A dark red line appeared and the pain shot through my arm, but I gritted my teeth, more worried about what would happen if this worked than a small pain. I saw Caroline's face twist into a tight knot when she saw the blood, and she turned her back to us and Rose, who had just been lurking in the background, not interfering but not approving, took a few steps closer to her. Bonnie turned my hand sideways so the blood dripped onto the middle of the map around Oklahoma. After about five drops of blood, Bonnie released my hand and focused her attention on the blood spatters. She began to move her lips in a silent chant. The candles around the map instantly flamed up, and the blood spots came together to form one blob that began to move, slowly inching across the map. I watched as the splotch spilt into two, one going to the east, the other to the west.

"Mystic Falls and Nevada," I said smiling as the blood stopped. "She's in Nevada, that means Damon is in New Orleans."

The anger was completely washed away by the waves of excitement that were rolling through me. "We can find him."

**Please review.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. This is just for fun.**

I couldn't help the smile that grew larger on my lips as I considered the meaning of those words. We could find Damon. It wasn't just the fact that we knew where he was, where to find him, that excited me, but it was the first time since the night of the attack, the night he was taken from me, that we had some form of proof that he was actually alive. In a small part of me, a part I tried to ignore, sometimes it still seemed that Damon was gone, killed by the other vicious vampires, as if I was only dreaming of him at night, a fiction of my own mind's longing to see him again, not actually talking to him in these vivid dreams with whatever vampire mind control he possessed. But now we knew that he was in New Orleans, and it was only a matter of getting there and actually saving him.

I began the plans in my head. We would need stakes, lots of stakes and some of the other various vampire weapons that Alaric had could help. I would have to call him and see if he would be willing to take a trip to New Orleans. Alaric was the most experienced, except for maybe Rose, when it came to killing vampires. We would also need maps of the city to find some of the potential places that the vampires could be holding him.

Damon would probably have a good sense of where exactly in New Orleans he was, but getting him to say would be nearly impossible. If we knew where he was, we wouldn't have to waste time checking false leads or risk running into a building full of vampires without warning. We could have him back sooner, and there would be no opportunity for something else, something worse, to happen to Damon in his captivity. But the chances of Damon saying would be very low; he was so dead set against me coming after him. He would say yet again that I should stay here like I promised him, stay here and worry over whether or not he would be able to escape.

I sighed and rubbed my hand across my forehead, softly massaging my temples. A warm, wet path was left behind my hand, and I looked at it, confused. A dark red pool was forming in my palm, pooling in a long, thick line through the middle of my hand. As I stared at it, recognizing the cut made for the spell, the sharp pain that I had suppressed came back, dominating all coherent thought and making me gasp at its suddenness. I grabbed my wrist trying to keep more blood from gushing out of the deep cut and futilely trying to lessen the pain.

I struggled to stand up, pulling the hurt hand to my chest and nearly falling back to the ground. Bonnie jumped up, took a hold of my hand that wasn't bleeding and helped me to stand up, following closely as I started for the bathroom. Caroline backed up quickly as we walked by, closing her eyes tightly and turning her head away; her face morphed into an expression of anguish, almost pain, though she kept her vampire features safely hidden. Rose took a few steps closer to her, positioning herself between us; she was watching Caroline intently, ready to stop her if the blood became too strong to resist. I wanted to tell Rose she didn't have to do that, that Caroline was able to control herself, but I couldn't pay much attention to them, too concerned with my aching hand. Bonnie gently took hold of my wrist and held it under the faucet in the bathroom.

I closed my eyes as she turned on the water, trying to not think of the pain. I bit down on my bottom lip too hard, trying to focus on this different pain, as I felt her take a rag to the open skin and softly rub away the blood that had dried on the edges of the cut. Gripping my other hand into a tight fist and gritting my teeth, I tried to hold back the cry of pain that was on the verge of escaping my throat. I opened my eyes as Bonnie pulled the hand from under the water's flow and wrapped a dry rag around the deep cut. I tried to pull it back to my chest in an attempt to keep it from any further harm, but Bonnie held it in a firm grasp. I watched as she put her hands on mine, one above my hand and one below. She stared at our hands, her face contorting with concentration. Her lips barely moved in her silent cantation.

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" I asked as the ache in my hand lessened. After only a few seconds, the pain was totally gone. I tried to pull my hand away again but Bonnie kept it in place, slightly tightening her grip, her quiet chant never faltering. Though the pain was gone, a new sensation came up where the throbbing wound had been. It felt like my skin was stretching, though there was no sting from skin tearing. It was like my skin was lacing itself back together. My hand was tingling, the same sensation as when it falls asleep. I stared at it, even though I couldn't actually see the healing skin because of the rag, but I knew that the cut was gone. When Bonnie finally closed her eyes, her lips stopping their silent spell, she released my hand, taking a small step back. I removed the rag and stared at the new skin. It was like nothing had happened; there wasn't even a scar. I ran fingers over the line that should have been there, but it was just spotless skin.

"It's a simple healing spell," Bonnie said, shrugging her shoulders as she also gingerly touched the place where the deep cut had been.

"Thank you, Bonnie," I replied, pulling her into a hug.

I walked back into the bedroom, ready to start making actual plans, ready to find Damon. Caroline was no longer standing rigidly to the side, and Rose wasn't hovering around her cautiously, waiting for her to lose her control. Now Caroline was sitting on the corner of the bed; her face was not twisted into that almost painful expression; now she just looked lost in thought, a small line creasing the skin between her eyebrows. Rose had moved back to the edge of the room, leaning her back against the heavy curtains and just silently observing. Bonnie slipped past me and sat down on the floor in front of all the things she had set up for the locator spell. She quietly began to put everything back into her bag. The grimoire she kept in her lap and flicked her fingers through the yellowed and jagged pages. Bonnie just flipped her fingers through the pages, staring at the floor.

"What needs to be the first thing we should do?" I asked as I started slowly pacing around the room. There were so many things that had to be done. Ric would have to be called, weapons brought in. We would have to have him to help fight. Then we had to find Klaus, and we had no idea where in New Orleans he was, and Damon would never say. And if we did find where Klaus was hiding, we would have to figure out how to fight all his vampires, not to mention that he would have at least one werewolf for the sacrifice and probably a witch or two on his side. Klaus himself would pose the greatest challenge no matter how much vervain and other vampire weapons we had. Rose had said Klaus was the oldest and strongest vampire. If it came down to a fight with him, none of us stood a chance. We would have to find a way to make it inside without having to actually fight Klaus. Then there was the problem of finding Damon, and what to do once we got away. If we did manage to not fight Klaus, nowhere would be safe; he would come after us no matter where we went. There was no way we would ever be safe as long as he was alive. But how would we kill him? How to kill a vampire _that_ powerful without getting anyone killed? I sighed as I stopped pacing. Thinking about the danger that I was getting everyone into was making it seem less and less like a good idea. Caroline, Bonnie, Alaric, and Rose would all be risking their lives, and I would be risking Damon's. I had to find a way to save him without having any of my friends killed.

"We should call Alaric, now," Bonnie said, breaking through my thoughts. "We'll need him to bring as many weapons and as much vervain as possible, and I'll see what spells are in here that could help us." She opened the grimoire and started thumbing through the pages, carefully looking over every line.

"Just make sure he doesn't say anything that will hint to Jenna that it's you he's talking to," Caroline added. "He's probably at your house and we don't want Jenna to get hysterical or mad or anything. And we _don't _want her to know that Alaric is coming here. If Jenna knows where you are, she'll be here in a second and drag you right back to Mystic Falls."

"How was she when you left exactly? What did she say?"

"Well for a while, she was raving mad, talking about how she would never let you out of the house ever again and that after everything she's done since your parents died this is the thanks she gets, you running away with your boyfriend, and some of the things she said about Stefan just shouldn't be repeated. Let's just say he is _not_ her favorite person right now. Then she broke down in to the self-blaming, self-loathing depression, going on about how it was all her fault and she had this coming; you or Jeremy were bound to run away eventually because of her bad parenting skills and how none of this would have happened if they had found somebody better to take care of you and Jeremy," Caroline answered. She looked up at me with a sympathetic smile and shrugged. "She's just worried about you, Elena. Don't think too much about it."

"It's hard not to think about it Caroline," was my only response. Jenna was blaming herself for me getting out of Mystic Falls, and it was my fault. All her grief, worry and anger, all of it was my fault, because of the vampires, because of the curse, because of me.

I walked over to the bed and sat next to Caroline as I reached for the phone. I quickly dialed Alaric's number, and held my breath as the phone kept ringing and ringing. At first I feared he wouldn't answer. "Pick up Ric," I whispered. But it kept ringing.

"You've reached Alaric Saltzman," his recorded voice said, "I'm not here right now, but please leave a message."

I hung up angrily and immediately redialed. "Ric this is not the time to not pick up your phone," I told the receiver after about the fifth ring. Finally, I heard the click and a quick, almost irritated "Hello?"

"Ric, don't say anything," I said quickly. "We can't let Jenna know you're talking to me."

"I'm listening," he answered shortly.

"We need your help, Ric. We've figured out that Damon is in New Orleans. Now we don't know where he is in New Orleans, but we're going to soon," I said with determination. "Damon's told us that wherever he's being held there are a lot of vampires, and we need weapons and vervain. Can you help us?"

"I'll need a story to tell Jenna," Alaric replied without hesitation in a hushed tone. "Where are you? I'll be there as soon as I can."

I smiled into the phone, glad to know he was eager to help. "Near Galveston, Texas. And tell Jenna whatever you need to, anything but the truth."

"All right. I'll be there sometime tomorrow. I'll start packing everything tonight, and take the next flight down there. How is Damon? Do you know anything?" he asked in an even quieter voice.

"He's okay for now." I sighed. "Just be sure you get as much vervain as you can and all your weapons. We'll need as much help as we can get."

"Sure thing. I'll call you when I land."

"Thank you, Ric."

"Take care of yourself."

"I will," I replied before I placed the phone back in the cradle. "Alaric and weapons are on their way," I announced to the rest of the group. "Now all we have to do is find where exactly Damon is and figure out how we are going to deal with Klaus."

"There are a few spells in here that may be able to help," Bonnie said without looking up from her book. "Protection spells, rapid healing spells, things like that. They don't seem too difficult. I should be able to do them. I'll keep looking for more."

"All right, now we have spells to protect us. All that's left is finding Klaus and figuring out how we're going to fight him."

"Elena," Rose said from behind me. Her voice was calm, but stern, like my mother's was when I was little, a strong warning to maintain order or a light chastising for something done wrong. I turned to meet Rose's hard gaze. She shook her head slightly before saying "It's a bad idea."

"What?" I asked, shocked.

"It's a bad idea, and you know it," she said, harshly. "You're going to get us all killed." I flinched at her cold words, but she kept going. "Klaus can't be killed; he's too strong. There are too many vampires and things that could go wrong. This is stupid Elena. You know Klaus wants you so he can break the curse. You're just going to walk right into his lair and you expect him not to sacrifice you the instant he can? Has Damon even tried his plan?" I shook my head without a word, too stunned to say anything. Her tone shifted into a gentler, pacifying tone. "Then let Damon try his plan first. He's smart enough to figure out how to get out of there without getting himself killed. If he can't, _then _we can try to think up a rescue, but for now we need to stay here where we're all safe."

I opened my mouth but no sound came out. She wanted me to stay here? When Damon was in danger? "We can't Rose. _I_ can't," I whispered. "Damon will need our help. I have to help him. He's just going to get himself killed, Rose. I _have_ to do this."

"You're going to get us all killed Elena," Rose said, not relenting. "Let Damon try his plan first."

"I have to get him out of there, Rose." I sighed, considering my next statement. "If you want, you can leave, but as soon as I can, I'm going after Damon."

Rose shook her head. "You want to take us to the slaughter? Fine. Damon would want me to protect you, that's what I'll do, but just consider what kind of danger you're pulling yourself and your friends into." Rose turned and headed down the stairs without another word. I stared after her for a moment, wondering if that had just happened, if Rose really meant all those things. But of course she did. Rose had spent five hundred years running from Klaus and I was just going to drag her to him and expect her to fight for me, just so I could have Damon back.

She was right. I was risking them all, and Klaus would stop at nothing until he sacrificed me. There had to be a way I could do this myself, without endangering everyone else, a way I could trade my life for Damon's. Caroline and Bonnie wouldn't let that happen; if they knew I would do that, they would stop me and Damon would be on his own.

"Elena?" Caroline whispered in a small voice.

"I _can't_," I repeated. I couldn't let anyone get hurt and I couldn't let _anything _happen to Damon. "We're going after him."

Caroline and Bonnie exchanged a quick, intense look. Caroline shrugged her shoulders, and Bonnie shook her head. Caroline's shoulders sagged for a moment before she turned to me and abruptly asked, "What's going on between you and Damon?"

"What?" I gasped at her bluntness. "What do you mean?"

"Oh please, Elena, you know what I _mean_. Don't try to deny anything," Caroline said in a demanding, accusing way.

"What Caroline means to say," Bonnie broke in with smoother tone, "is all we've heard since we got off the plane is Damon. You haven't even talked about saving Stefan. You're mind is solely on Damon."

"I…I just have contact with Damon right now," I said, trying to dodge this subject. I hadn't even realized I hadn't been mentioning Stefan. Surely I had said we would save them both; I had to save them both.

"And you're _only_ talking about Damon," Caroline said, conspiratorially. "What's been going on in these late night dream sessions to make you forget about Stefan."

"Nothing, Caroline. It's just… I have no idea what's happened to Stefan. For the past few days I've only had contact with Damon, so Stefan's name just kind of slipped my mind, but I haven't forgotten about him. We're getting Stefan back too."

I sat under Caroline's careful scrutiny. She stared at me as if she would find some example of why I only spoke of Damon written on my face. "What?" I asked, but she just shrugged and shook her head dismissively and kept staring.

"Bonnie have you found anything else?" I questioned, hoping to redirect Caroline's attention.

"No, but I'll look some more in the morning.' She yawned, covering her mouth with the grimoire. "I think I'm going to head down to bed. It's starting to get late."

Bonnie stood up and walked away from the bed. Caroline made no attempt to move. "Come on Caroline," Bonnie said from the top of the stairs. "We need to let Elena sleep so she can work out whatever happened earlier with Damon."

"Fine," Caroline huffed as she stood, "but tomorrow we are going to talk about all these late night Damon dreams."

"Good night Bonnie. Good night Caroline," I said, ignoring her comment.

"Night," they replied as the descended the stairs.

I turned out the lights and crawled under the sheets. I hadn't mentioned Stefan? The thought bothered me. How could I completely forget about Stefan? Now that they had pointed it out, I haven't even been worried about Stefan. My thoughts, dreams have been consumed with Damon, the bad brother, the vampire that killed recklessly with no emotions, but also the man that made me promise to stay safe because he needed know nothing would happen to me, that trusted me enough to show me his mother and sister's grave, that cared about me enough to be mad when I try to save him and the one that only did things to keep me protected without thinking about what would happed to him. But that's no excuse to forget that I love Stefan. But what was it about Damon that could make me forget Stefan. There was something, but I couldn't place it; I almost didn't want to find out. The image of his piercing blue eyes from last night came back to me. They were so full of anger and worry. All Damon wanted, all he asked of me was to stay safe, to stay alive. That's all he wanted, and I was going to deny him that. I was going to run straight into danger because I wanted to save him, to make sure that he was safe, alive, just like he was trying to do with me. I would risk my life to save his and break the promise I made. But why was I willing to do that? What was it about Damon that made me willing to endanger everything even when he didn't want me to? What _was_ going on between Damon and me?

I stopped my thoughts before they could form. I sighed pulling the comforter up to my chin, not willing to follow those ideas, afraid of where they might lead, not ready to face that. I closed my eyes and pushed all my thoughts away. The only the thing I did was try to figure out what I would say when I saw Damon again as I let sleep take me to him.

* * *

><p><em>I was standing in the ring of light cast by my front porch lamp. Damon was leaning against the house beside the front door with his arms crossed in front of his chest. His jaw was set tightly, and he was glaring at me, those blue eyes cold as they looked me up and down. His chest was barely moving, but I could tell he was focusing to control his breathing. Every muscle in his body was wound tight, like he was ready to attack or he was trying extremely hard not to move. I took a tiny step back, frightened by his rigid pose. He was still furious. We stood staring at each other, both of us waiting for something to happen, preparing ourselves for the storm that was certain to follow.<em>

"_Damon-," I whispered, taking a small step toward him, not quite sure what to say._

"_Did Bonnie do the tracking spell?" Damon asked, interrupting me. His voice held a strained note. He was doing everything he could to control his anger, but he looked like his control was waning._

"_Yes," I answered shortly._

"_And you're still going to try to stage a rescue?"_

"_Yes," I replied, looking at the ground, feeling a little ashamed._

_Without another word, Damon huffed as he pushed himself off the house, shaking his head, and walked past me. His arm brushed mine as he started down the porch steps._

"_Damon, please," I said, turning and grabbing his arm before he left the porch. He turned and faced me, his blue eyes bore into mine. "I need you to understand that I have to do this."_

"_No, you don't, Elena. I can get out of here without having to risk your life. I'm not going to stay here if you're going to try to convince me to let you follow through with your plan. I could be working on getting out." He made a move to step off the porch again, this time starting down the path away from the house._

"_Please Damon," I begged, "Let me help you."_

"_Elena," he said turning back towards me again, "Klaus has me here to draw you to him. He wants you to break the curse; that's why I'm here, so you'll come after me, and he can capture and sacrifice you. Don't play into his hand."_

"_There has to be a way I can help," I pressed._

"_Stay there. Let me play out my plan. That's how you can help me. I can't focus on getting out of here if I'm worrying about you. The only way I'm getting out of is if I'm the only one I have to worry about."_

"_I can't let you risk that Damon. It's too dangerous."_

_Damon stepped back up the porch steps, standing in front of me. His hands came up to cradle my face, pushing my hair behind my ears and gently holding my face between his palms. He whispered, "And it's too dangerous for you to try to break me out. Klaus will kill you. I can't lose you, Elena."_

"_I-," I started to say, but I didn't know _what_ to say. I reached up and grabbed one of his hands, holding it between both of my own in front of us. Our fingers mindlessly twined and untwined themselves. He was staring at me with the angry exterior gone, leaving nothing but raw emotions in those endless blue pools. He looked so tormented, and he was asking me wordlessly to understand the risk I was taking and to know what would happen to him if I didn't survive. And it was working. All the doubts I had had earlier were coming back. My plan only involved putting everyone in harm's way._

"_I have a plan Elena," he said quickly, sensing he was gaining the advantage. "I just have to wait for the full moon; then, I'll be able to get out, and I'll come straight to you, just please don't come after me; not yet," he pleaded._

_I could feel myself giving in, relenting, the strong resolve I'd built melting. "Full moon?" I asked confused, wanting full knowledge of his plan before I gave up my own completely._

"_The full moon is soon. I heard one of the other vampires talking about it. Everyone will be focused on the werewolf to make sure he doesn't get out and start attacking people. I'll be able to get away. You just have to wait a little longer Elena."_

"_What if your plan doesn't work, Damon?" I asked._

_Damon licked his lips, taking a quick breath. "Then we'll try your plan. Just let me try to get out of here first. I promise you Elena, it will work."_

"_I-," I stopped myself, shook my head, then looked Damon straight in the eye and saw him silently begging me to just wait, promising to be with me soon. I couldn't resist his pleas any more. I gave him a slight nod, completely relenting to him. "Okay, fine, but if your plan doesn't work, I'm going to come after you, and you won't be able to stop me."_

_He smiled at me, a genuine smile. "It will work," he reassured me, rubbing his thumb across my cheek. I was suddenly very aware of our interlocked fingers and the hand he still had on my now hot cheek. My skin was on fire under his hand, burning everywhere he touched. It was a good burn, a burn I longed not to lose._

"_I'm sorry," I whispered. Damon's eyes narrowed in question. "For almost breaking my promise."_

"_Just don't break it," was Damon's only response._

_We stood there in the ring of the porch light, our fingers playing with each other, twirling around and gently holding the other. As I stared into Damon's eyes, I noticed the edges of the dream were fuzzy, like when I start to wake up, but surely it was too soon for morning._

"_So what are we going to do tonight?" I asked after a few moments of silence, trying to pull my focus off the blurry edges of the dream._

"_We never got to explore your castle from the other dream. Would you care to give me another tour of your imagination?" he asked playfully._

_I laughed, closing my eyes, trying to remember my previous creation. I pictured the lush, green canopy that covered the world of light orbs and colorful birds that flew beneath the civilization that lived above. I envisioned the ships that sailed among the leaves and the people dressed in their simple brown clothes in their marketplaces, selling their strange fruits and vegetables and their little cottages with smoke rising into the blue sky, decorated with reds and pinks. Then I imagined the grand, gold castles with towers that stretched into the sky over the world. Everything glimmered under the bright sun, almost blinding. Soft music flooded from inside, drifting across the canopy like a whisper._

_When I opened my eyes, the scenery had changed but the edges were still hazy every where I looked. The dream was still here. There were none of the usual signs of morning. No sound loss or incredible, defining increase, the fuzziness wasn't getting worse and I could still feel Damon's skin on mine. And Damon was still standing in front of me, our hands connecting us in front of our bodies and his hand cradling my cheek. We were on the threshold of the castle, its large, golden doors looming above us. Across the doors was Damon's crest with its flowering wings and elaborate 'D' and the words 'pro infinito' craved underneath._

_I smiled up at Damon who was dressed in a black suit with his white shirt unbuttoned, allowing the top of his toned chest to be seen. His hair was almost falling into his eyes, but gently sitting on his forehead. I was wearing a simple strapless red gown that hugged my curves and flowed to the ground. It had a sweetheart neckline and off the shoulder straps. The back was cut low, leaving mostly bare skin._

"_How about a party in the castle?" I suggested, pulling Damon with me through the door._

_The music was louder in here, and we were immediately immersed into the crowds of people that filled every inch of the castle. Everyone was dancing and smiling. They weren't wearing the same plain brown clothes as everyone else in this world, but dressed for the party. Girls had on dresses of every color and length and style, and guy wore black suits. No one noticed our presence as we began to maneuver through them. Damon was leading me, guiding me toward the music. We moved through the throngs of people easily until a guy stepped back as we were passing behind him and crashed into me._

"_Oh I am so sorry," the guy said, turning around. His voice was heavily laced with a British accent. He had short dirty blonde, light brown hair, and green eyes that sent cold shivers down my back when he looked at me. "Are you okay?"_

"_Um, yeah. I'm fine. It's all right," I said, turning back to Damon. I pulled myself closer to him as we walked._

"_Are you okay?" he asked, wrapping his arms around me and drawing me into his chest._

"_I'm fine. It's nothing," I said brushing the foreboding feeling away._

"_Well would you care for a dance?" He held his hand out for me as the music morphed into _The Sleeping Beauty Waltz_. I took his hand, lacing our fingers together and he pulled me to him. Our chests were pushed together tightly and Damon's hand was now resting on the bare skin of my back. I laid my head on his chest as we swayed to the music. We weren't dancing so much as swaying, just holding each other. I nuzzled into his neck and Damon leaned his head on mine._

"_When I wake up, this will all be gone," I said sadly as the music faded into the background so quiet it could barely be heard. _

"_I know," Damon whispered back._

"_I can't lose you either, Damon," I confessed, releasing his hand and wrapping both my arms around his torso. Damon's other hand moved to the base of my neck and stroked my hair softly._

"_I'll be there soon, Elena. Until then I'll be here in your dreams, waiting for you."_

_The room around us disappeared, so only Damon and I stood in the now empty, silent darkness, our arms wrapped tightly around each other._

"_The full moon?" I asked, just to reaffirm his plan._

"_Then we won't be limited to these late night meetings," he joked._

_Everything was gone now. I could still feel Damon's arms tight around me and his body firmly pressed against mine. I could still feel him running his fingers through my hair and I held that with everything I had even as the dream slipped away._

* * *

><p>I didn't open my eyes, even though I knew I was awake. I could still feel Damon's arms wrapped securely around me, and I wasn't ready to lose that by accepting that I was fully awake. I laid there just feeling the memory of his arms around me, even as I felt the bed underneath me.<p>

Finally I opened my eyes, preparing myself to lose the secure feeling of his embrace, but no loss came. Instead, I stared into deep green eyes.

"Stefan?" I asked shocked.

"Good morning," he said, smiling at me.

**A/N: So… I have been horrible about updating… actually I haven't updated, like at all, and I am **_**SO SORRY**_**. School just took over my life. I didn't have time to breathe let alone write, but I promise I won't leave you with this huge cliffhanger. I've already started the next chapter and it should be up soon. I tried to make this chapter a little longer, but it turned into this. Then I tried to split it up but decided it just didn't flow right. Next chapter will be about the normal size and up soon. And to everyone that reviewed last chapter, many thanks. I don't think I sent many, if any, thank yous for the reviews, but they were all read and very appreciated. Please review and let me know what you think.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: My fellow Delena lovers, I'm sorry. I will go ahead and apologize for this chapter now. Just remember it's necessary for the plot of the story, even if it was painful to write and probably hard to read. Enjoy…? No, I don't think I can even ask that of you… Please read and review.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries.**

"Stefan?" I asked again, sitting up in the bed, pulling myself from his arms. He sat up with me, his eyes staring intently at me. I gazed at him, dazed, not willing to believe that he was in the room with me, but he seemed real. He was wearing jeans and a simple v-neck dark grey t-shirt. He reached for my hand, taking it in his and lacing our fingers together. Excitement quickly fluttered in my chest as I felt my hand in his. "How are you here? How did you escape?" I questioned, still not believing he was real. He _couldn't _be here; it wasn't possible; he was taken by the other vampires, just like Damon. But I could feel the cool metal of his ring pressed up against my hand and the gentle strokes of his thumb across my own, just like I could feel Damon's in my dreams. Then the hard truth dawned on me, mentally slapping me and leaving a bittersweet sting inside. "I'm still dreaming."

Stefan's brow furrowed in confusion. "Elena, what are you talking about?"

"This is another dream," I stated, completely certain. "I can dream of you too, Stefan." A small tendril of happiness wrapped itself around my mind easing the painful truth that this wasn't real as I thought of seeing Stefan every night as I saw Damon.

"Elena," Stefan said, reaching up and tucking my hair behind my ear before cupping my cheek with his hand, "you aren't dreaming. I'm here; I escaped," he clarified.

"I'm-I'm awake?" I asked, still not convinced. I looked around the room, trying to find something to prove that this was still a dream, but I found nothing. We were in Damon's room, everything where it should be, no signs of dreaminess anywhere. I tried to change it, picturing myself in my own room back in Mystic Falls, but the room did not disappear around us; nothing changed. As I scanned the room, my eyes landed on the mirror in the corner. I noticed Stefan was staring at me, worriedly. I turned back to him, staring into his deep green eyes. "I'm awake," I said, slowly wrapping my head around this truth. A smile crept on my face as I watched him, accepting that this was really Stefan. "You're really here."

"I'm really here, Elena," he echoed.

I reached up with my free hand and gently touched his cheek, relishing the feeling of his skin under mine. Stefan placed his hand over mine, wrapping his fingers around it and bringing it to his lips, pressing a light kiss on my palm. Then he released it to lean forward and placed a single soft kiss on my lips.

My hands found their way to his hair, pulling him back to me and crashing our lips together, and holding him in place as his tongue traced the seam of my lips. I allowed him to deepen our kiss as I pulled myself closer to him. His hands traveled to my hips before he began to run them up and down the sides of my body. Our tongues began their fight for dominance as Stefan pushed me back on the bed, his body hovering over mine. He broke our connection for a brief moment to utter a quiet "I love you" against my lips before our lips joined again.

I reached down for the hem of his shirt, desperate to feel his skin under my fingertips. I started to pull it over his head when Caroline's voice drifted up the stairs.

"Elena, breakfast is ready," she shouted cheerfully. "Damon will understand that you have to have breakfast, so wake up."

Stefan and I both froze in our embrace, looking at each other. Stefan's eyebrow shot up in question, and I could feel a burning blush in my cheeks. The electric atmosphere around us was shattered and we were left with the cruel realization that we weren't alone in the house. Stefan sighed after a second, rolling off me and the bed to stand over me. He nodded his head in the direction of the stairs.

"Coming, Caroline," I called down to her. Stefan held out his hand for me and pulled me from the bed. We walked down the stairs hand in hand, smiling at each other. Stefan's green eyes stared at me and the mixture of emotion in them was overwhelming. Concern, joy, suspicion, worry, love, and happiness could be seen deep within those green pools, but there was something else I couldn't decipher, a cold stillness and distance I couldn't put a name to, a look that scared me and sent chills down my spine, but he smiled at me as we reached the bottom, a warm Stefan smile that eased my fear and swept the unknown expression from his eyes.

Caroline was standing in the kitchen, still in her pink pajama shorts and matching tank top, her hair in a loose, messy ponytail, spatula in hand as she flipped a pancake from a sizzling skillet onto a mountain of other golden pancakes. She picked the plate up and carried it to the table, placing it in front of Bonnie before taking her own seat. Rose wasn't anywhere to be seen. I assumed she was in the other bedroom.

Stefan released my hand and approached Bonnie and Caroline slowly, eyeing them uneasily. I walked ahead, pulled to the table by the smell of the bacon and eggs Caroline had already set out.

"So how was your night with Damon?" Caroline asked suggestively as soon as I sat down.

"Caroline can we not do this this morning?" I asked, anxious to get off the subject of Damon with Stefan in the room.

"Are you still not ready to explain why you've completely overlooked-" Caroline began.

"Good morning, Caroline," Stefan said, interrupting, finally making his presence known. I breathed a quick sigh if relief when Caroline didn't finish her question. Caroline turned around, shocked by Stefan's voice, and Bonnie dropped her fork onto her plate with a loud clatter of metal and glass. They both stared at him with gaping mouths and blatant shock on their faces. Neither of them said a word; though they kept opening and closing their mouths as if they were trying to grasp the right words to say. "Good morning, Bonnie." Stefan smiled at both of them as he slid easily into the seat next to me and leaned forward against the table on his elbows, his head resting on his joined hands.

"Stefan?" Caroline finally managed to ask.

"How did you get here?" Bonnie chimed in.

They both turned to me, question and confusion written across their faces. I shrugged my shoulders. "He was there when I woke up."

"How did you get out?" Caroline queried, turning back to Stefan.

"And how did you find us?" Bonnie added.

"The vampires that took me underestimated my strength," he said simply, a dark look passing over his entire face. His body went rigid for a moment before he continued. "As soon as I was out, I went back to Mystic Falls, but Elena wasn't there. But," Stefan reached into his pocket and brought out my necklace, holding it in the palm of his hand, "I found this in the driveway of the boarding house. I had a witch that owed me a favor in New Orleans. She was able to track Elena here."

Stefan held out the necklace for me, a loving smile replacing his suddenly dark demeanor. I reached for it, happy to see it again. I hadn't had the comfort of my necklace since the night Damon was attacked. My motions momentarily stopped with that thought. _Damon_. My necklace meant I couldn't see Damon.

"Thank you, Stefan," I said, taking it but placing it on the table instead of around my neck.

"Is something wrong?" Stefan asked, concern sweeping over his features.

"No, it's just- I can't wear the necklace," I said, not quite sure how to explain my evasion from my necklace. My necklace had always brought me comfort, a reassurance that my thoughts and actions were my own, but now it meant my mind would be closed to Damon, and then we would both be alone.

"What do you mean?" Stefan probed. "I don't understand."

"I-" I started to say, unsure of how to tell him that I've been dreaming of his brother and didn't want to wear the one thing that protected me from vampire because I still wanted to be able to see and talk to Damon every night, even if it was only in my dreams. I opened my mouth to try to explain when the phone in the living room rang.

I hopped up quickly, thankful for this disruption that spared me from explaining myself for at least a few moments.

"Hello?"

"Elena," Alaric said on the other end of the line, "my plane just landed in Hobby."

"Um," I looked down at myself, becoming very conscious of the fact that I was still wearing Damon's shirt I had put on yesterday to pick up Bonnie and Caroline, and I knew I needed a shower. "I can be there in forty-five minutes, maybe an hour."

"All right," Alaric replied. "I still have to go through baggage claim. I packed everything I have. I figured we should be prepared for anything."

"That's good. From what Damon's told me we'll need as much help as we can get. I'll see you soon?" I said though it sounded like a question.

"All right," Ric said, hanging up.

"That was Alaric," I said, turning back to everyone sitting at the table watching me. "I have to take a quick shower; then I'll go pick him up."

"I'll go with you," Stefan suggested.

"Uh- okay," I agreed, not quite sure I wanted to be alone with Stefan in the car when I had to tell him I've been dreaming of his brother.

I ran up the stairs and quickly shed my clothes on the bathroom floor. I jumped under the warm water, letting it envelop me. I tried to clear my head as I closed my eyes, running my hands through my wet hair, but behind my eyelids, I saw Stefan with that look I had seen earlier. Everything in that cold, distant stare scared me. It sent chills through my entire body and left goose bumps in its wake. It terrified me and reminded me of something, something from last night, but even as I tried to place it, it disappeared from my memory. The only thing I could remember from last night was Damon. Even as I thought of him I could feel my body calming and the fright ease. The chilling fingers that had been running up and down my spine were warmed by the thoughts of Damon's arms wrapped securely around me.

I opened my eyes, quickly washing my hair. I had to stop these thoughts. I couldn't think about Damon, not like that, especially now that I had Stefan back. Damon was just a friend, I told myself, a friend in trouble and I'm worried about him. That's all. I love Stefan, and Stefan was waiting for me downstairs, I reassured myself. I rinsed my hair and hopped out of the shower. I threw on a dark purple shirt and a pair of pants, slipping my feet into a pair of flip flops.

Caroline and Bonnie were sitting on one couch in the living room and Stefan the other. They sat watching some TV show when I walked up and stood next to Stefan.

"Has anyone seen Rose?" I asked, noting that she was still nowhere to be seen.

"She's in the bedroom," Caroline said, not turning her attention from the show. "She got in about an hour ago while you were still asleep. She left last night after she left your room."

"That's… weird." Caroline just shrugged her shoulders in response. "Come on, Stefan. We should be going."

I walked over to the coat closet and reached out for one of Damon's leather jackets. My hand froze as I held the cool leather as I thought of being in the car with Stefan. I slowly released Damon's jacket and reached for Bonnie's navy blue sweater, pulling it over my head.

Once we walked into the garage, Stefan opened the passenger door for me. I smiled at him as I slipped inside. Stefan closed the door before taking the driver's seat. He opened the garage door with the clicker that Rose must have left in the cup holder. He backed out easily, closed the door, and took off down the long driveway.

We sat in an uneasy silence for about ten minutes before Stefan returned to the subject I wanted to dodge. "So you never told me why you won't wear your necklace."

I bit my lip, trying to think of a way for my explanation not sound as bad as it did in my head. _I've been dreaming of your brother since you've both been kidnapped, and I don't think I could stand it if I went to sleep and he wasn't there. _That just wouldn't go over well. Finally I settled on telling the truth as simply as I could. "Damon has been compelling his way into my dreams since you've been taken."

Stefan's grip tighten on the steering wheel and a ghost of that horrible expression could be seen in green eyes. "What do you mean 'compelling his way into your dreams'?"

"Damon has been in my dreams. He told me you were taken with him. Mostly he's just been trying to make sure that I'm okay, and then we argue over whether or not I should try to rescue you."

Stefan said nothing. He just stared ahead at the road. I sighed and sunk back into the seat not sure what to say. I stared out the window and watched the scenery change as we drove into Houston. We stayed in this silence for about twenty minutes until I couldn't stand it anymore and had to say something.

"So how did you manage to escape?" I asked.

"I was able to overpower my guard," he said with no further explanation.

"What about Damon? Did you try to save him too?" I don't why I asked, but I wanted to know why Stefan was the only one there when I woke up this morning.

"They had Damon too heavily guarded. I wouldn't have been able to save him too. I got out of there as soon as I could."

"You're safe now," I said, forcing a smile in my face. "That's what matters." If I was being honest with myself, and lately it was easy not to be, I didn't mean it at all. I caught the way he made it sound like he didn't even try to save his brother

We arrived at the airport five minutes later and found Alaric standing with five large suitcases at his feet. Stefan pulled up to the curb, and we both got out to help him get the bags into the trunk.

"Elena," Alaric said, a smile spreading across his face as I walked up to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Ric. How was your flight?" I asked politely.

"Long," was his simple reply. "Stefan?" he asked when he noticed Stefan standing a few feet away. I mentally noted that Stefan had done that a few times this morning. He was cautious approaching Caroline and Bonnie this morning; then he sat as far from them as he could while I was in the shower. Now he barely came near Alaric. And that look was in his eyes. He had a chilly distance to his gaze and posture. It was scaring me.

"Alaric," he said, nodding his head in greeting.

Alaric looked back to me with the same look Caroline and Bonnie had this morning. "It's complicated," I told him, dismissing it.

We packed Alaric's bags, and I slid into the backseat behind Stefan as we started back for the house. It was quiet for a few minutes as we made it through the traffic of the airport.

"So what did you tell Jenna?" I asked, leaning forward between the front seats.

"I told her a cousin of mine was in the hospital and I had to leave for a few day." Alaric sighed rubbing his hand across his face. "She's worried about you Elena."

"I know," I whispered. "It's better that she's not a part of all this. It's too dangerous."

"Yeah," Alaric replied half heartedly. "So… how did you get here, Stefan?"

Stefan didn't answer. He seemed completely far away. All day he seemed like he wasn't completely here. "Um… he found a way to escape. He went home and found my necklace and took it to a witch that tracked me here."

"Huh… what about Damon?" he asked.

I sighed heavily. "He's still there."

"Where is 'there' exactly?"

I started to answer when a thought popped in my head. This morning Stefan had said he escaped, went to Mystic Falls, then took my necklace to New Orleans. If Klaus had him in New Orleans, Stefan wouldn't have go back after he had escaped. "Stefan," I said touching hiss arm, trying to bring his mind back into the car, "where did Klaus have you?"

"We were in the middle of the desert up in Nevada. There were a lot of treeless mountains. Klaus had a building on the side one of them. It was huge and far from anything." As soon as Stefan finished speaking, he slipped back into his own silence.

"That can't be right," I whispered to myself.

"Elena?"

I turned to face Ric as all the pieces in my mind tried to work themselves into place. "We did a tracking spell for Isobel with my blood. We also used Caroline's to track Stefan and Damon. Caroline's blood went to New Orleans and Nevada. Mine went to Nevada. If Stefan was in New Orleans, wherever Damon is, so is Isobel."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure, but we need to get home so we can put all of our heads together."

The remainder of our trip was silent as we contemplated this information. Why would Isobel be with Klaus? What could she possibly be doing?

We got home twenty-five minutes later. Stefan and I helped Alaric carry his bags inside and placed them on and around the table. Rose was sitting in the library when we walked in. Her face showed her surprise as she saw Stefan, but she said nothing. Caroline and Bonnie moved into the library as walked in. When we had everything inside, I told everyone what happened with Damon last night and what we found out in the car.

"So Damon is really in Nevada? And so is Isobel?" Bonnie questioned when I was finished.

"Yes," I answered.

"And we're not going after Damon?" Caroline asked.

"Not yet," I replied, "at least not until after the full moon." Rose smiled slightly in satisfaction, but still she didn't speak. "But we still need to have a plan. We have Stefan here; he knows what Klaus has in store for us."

I turned around toward the dining room. Stefan was once again detached from the group. He shrugged at my suggestion. I sighed turning back to everyone else. "But we can do that later. I think for now we need to eat lunch; then we can think about what we need to do."

Lunch passed by smoothly, filled with generic conversation. After lunch, we didn't make any plans. Everyone had picked up on Stefan's odd behavior, and it created an uncomfortable atmosphere around us all. We didn't know what was causing his distant, off putting actions, but we tried to give him space.

Rose stayed in the library, flipping through several books. Alaric stayed in the dining room and messed with his numerous vampire gadgets. Caroline, Bonnie, and I went to the couch to watch a Lifetime movie marathon. Stefan sat on the couch with me, but he sat at the other end and kept shifting every few seconds. He couldn't sit still. He seemed anxious and fidgety.

"Stefan, are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine," he said, but his voice had a slight strain I hadn't heard before. I moved down to his end of the couch and leaned into his chest. He went rigid when I first touched him, but soon he relaxed and wrapped his arm around me. Before long he was stroking my hair and placing small kisses on the top of my head. I turned my face upward and he smiled down at me. I smiled too, happy to see this side of Stefan again.

The rest of the day was uneventful. We ate dinner around five and then we each returned to what we were doing.

"I think I'm going to head up to bed," I said as soon as it was dark outside.

"I think I will too," Stefan said, standing with me. I smiled at him and took his hand.

"Night," I called over my shoulder as I walked up the stairs. Several different 'Night Elena' and 'Night Stefan' s came after us.

I brushed my teeth and changed into a blue tank top and shorts in the bathroom. When I walked back into the bedroom, Stefan was under the covers, just his naked chest and arms visible. I crawled in next to him and cuddled into his arm. Stefan leaned down and kissed me with the same passion as this morning. I couldn't breathe from the urgency in his kiss. He pressed me down into the mattress as he positioned us so that I was under him.

"Stefan,' I gasped when we finally broke the kiss for air. "We can't… do this… with everyone… in the house."

Stefan groaned, rolling off me. "You're right," he said to the ceiling. He rolled over on his side to look me in the eye. "I missed you Elena. I was so worried about you."

"I was worried about you too," I replied. He gave me one more quick kiss. "I love you, Stefan." I rolled onto my other side, and Stefan wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me so my back was pressed against his chest.

"I love you too, Elena," he whispered in my ear. "Good night."

"Hmm, night," I mumbled, happy to have him back with me.

I closed my eyes, ready to let sleep take me. For a moment the thought disturbed me. I wanted to sleep so I could see Damon even as Stefan held me in his arms, but the thought was whisked away by the rapid, overwhelming darkness of sleep.

**A/N: Finally! It's over! That was the hardest thing to write. Now I have good news and I have bad news. Which do you want first? Good news: the next chapter is completely Delena. Bad news: I have to go to school in three hours and after what happened last semester, I have no idea when I'll be able to update. However I promise I'll do my best. The next chapter is the one I've had brewing in my head for forever, and I can't wait to see it written. I promise it will be awesome.**

**Please review. :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you so much for all the reviews for the last chapter. Anyway, you've all waited a good long while for this Damon/Elena filled chapter, so I'm not going to say anymore. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Vampire Diaries**_**.**

_Everything around me was encased in an unnaturally bright, blinding, golden light. As I looked around, people were moving swiftly about; they drifted around like they were floating, gliding rather than walking, everyone outlined and glowing with the golden light._

_Women were dressed up to their necks in dresses and lace that gently brushed the ground beneath their feet. They wore long sleeves; though it was hardly necessary with the sun bathing everything in its bright heat. Each woman was adorned with large, grand, broad hats, decorated with flowers, bows, and feathers, very gaudy and ostentatious. There were no bright colors; though they weren't dull either. They were just gentler, subtler so attention would not be easily drawn to it; however, if attention was turned, everything was still beautiful and not overpowering. It was classy and sophisticated._

_The men were dressed in neutral colored suits, black, brown, grey, and navy blue slacks with well polished shoes. They all wore white button-up long sleeve shirts. Some men wore coats, others vests of different colors, many carried canes, and some even donned bow ties. Those with hair had it slicked back so that the slight breeze did not tousle it. Others hid their heads beneath small brimmed hats._

_Many women traveled together, huddled in groups, gossiping amongst themselves. Some men walked with a woman, or sometimes two, on his arm, the ladies' gloved hands in the crook of the men's elbows. It was a scene like those shown in history books or movies about the early twentieth century._

_My eyes adjusted to the bright light, and a large deck was revealed around me. Lounging chairs were lined up, overlooking a vast, endless blue ocean. The water was calm and glassy, completely smooth as it stretched out around everything and the same blue as the sky overhead, making it impossible to discern the horizon in the distance._

_I moved closer to the rail, wanting to see more of this breathtaking ocean. As I looked out upon this boundless sight, breathing in the salt in the air, feeling the wind lightly pull at my hair, I watched the ocean and sky, what moments ago had seen limitless, slowly morph. It was indistinguishable at first, but then a transparent gray fog began to rise behind the blue, muddling into a grayish brown scene that could barely be perceived. I focused on it closely, fearing if I looked away for a moment it would disappear into my imagination, but the harder I stared, the more I worried I was creating the scene in my mind. More long moments passed and the fog came together to form what looked like, though I couldn't be completely sure because it was still faint, cell bars, a fainter gray than those shades behind it, but that was as much detail as I could make out. As I kept watching, I could feel a deep, stabbing dread grow in my chest._

"_Elena." I gasped quietly as a soft call startled me and pulled my attention away for a slight moment, just long enough to take in the sight of Damon standing beside me. I turned back quickly, hoping the mysterious gray fog and cell would be visible to Damon as well, but instead I was faced with the infinite ocean._

"_Did you see that?" I asked, frowning in confusion. In that brief moment, the fog had dissipated and disappeared as though it had never been there._

"_See what, princess?" Damon asked as he moved behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin upon my shoulder, looking out across the never ending ocean, searching for the same ghostly fog I had seen. I placed my hands on top of his as they rested just above my hips, lacing our fingers together. I didn't completely lean into Damon's embrace. Instead I bent closer to the rail, searching the flawless blue sky for any sign of the strange fog._

"_You didn't see that? It was like a gray fog and it made what looked like a cell, like in a prison. You didn't see it?" I repeated flustered. It was eerie the way it had just appeared and then vanished._

_Damon chuckled softly into my neck. I turned around in his arms, staring at him with a frown. Damon looked back at me, his blue eyes sparkling with his amusement. As I watched him, a smile spread across my own face and I could feel the fear melt away as I finally surrendered myself to Damon's protective hold around my waist, leaning my chest against his. The anxiety was replaced with a sense of safety, and I knew nothing could happen while I was in Damon's arms. "Your imagination has run away with you," he stated simply._

"_I guess so," I conceded. A small worry still remained deep within my chest, but it was hard to let my apprehension take any hold when I was close to Damon._

_I took a step back, not releasing Damon's hands or allowing them to leave my body, but I moved just far enough to look at Damon clearly for the first time, taking in the sight of him wearing a black suit with a dark blue vest under his coat. His dark hair was slightly curled as it had been in our dreams of 1860s Mystic Falls, though it was not as long as it had been. He looked younger like this. The way he dressed, his hair, all of it showed what had once been Damon during his life and early years as a vampire, a Damon I had never known, but his eyes held the Damon that was taken from me, witty and playful, strengthened by his years and heartbreak over Katherine. His blue eyes seemed to reflect the endless sky above us. Staring into his eyes, it seemed like they went on forever, deep and knowing, revealing the true Damon behind the costume of the dream._

"_Where are we?" I asked after a few minutes of gazing at him. "When is this?"_

"_Well Elena," he said with his signature smirk taking place over his features, "I had promised to show you a real ship." He paused as he watched my face morph into confusion. "This is 1912 and the _R.M.S. Titanic._"_

_It took me a second to register what he had said. "_Titanic_?" I asked with disbelief. "You were on the _Titanic_?"_

"_After everything that happened in Mystic Falls in 1864, I left for Italy, stayed with some family there for almost fifty years. I wanted to spend my eternal existence as far away from Stefan as I could." Damon paused, looking reminiscent for a moment before he continued. "Word of my nephew Zachariah's death reached me in early April. I had heard that the grandest ship to ever sail was leaving from South Hampton, arriving in New York a few days before the funeral, so I decided to travel back to the states in style." Damon's eye gleamed as he looked around the deck. He smiled down at me. "This," he said signaling the deck around us, the people, everything with just a tilt of his head, "this is a real ship. My little house boat is a far cry from this magnificence."_

"_It certainly has a wonderful view." I looked behind me at the water. Damon pulled me closer to him, his fingers gently squeezing my hips. Once he had me pressed firmly against his chest, his hands reached up and cradled my face between his palms, softly pulling my attention back to him. I grasped one of his wrists, holding his hand tighter to cheek. This was one of our moments of deep connection, and though we spoke no words, we were able to silently communicate, each telling how much we missed the other since last night and the longing we each felt to have a moment similar in the waking world._

"_Elena," Damon's voice came out in a husky whisper; it almost sounded strained, as though he was trying to hold something back. He licked his lips in a slow deliberate movement. I caught him glancing at my own lips, his eyes leaving my own for a slight moment, and leaning fractionally closer, but that tiny moment was all it took to break the connection._

_I took a step back, releasing Damon's wrist. I don't know what exactly pulled me back; It wasn't that I didn't _want_ Damon to kiss me; since Damon had been in my dreams, I haven't shied away from his touches, but the way he looked at me and leaned closer wasn't like those times before, and I knew I wasn't ready to cross that line, not yet. I also knew that I _shouldn't_ kiss Damon, that there was something, maybe someone, some _reason _waiting for me in the real world, but in that moment I couldn't quite remember what, or _who,_ it was. But there was also an internal tug that felt almost involuntary, like something had grabbed me from the inside and forced me away from him, a force I couldn't explain. But now that I was separated from Damon, the feeling was gone, and nothing was left in its place. It was like the fog; it appeared suddenly and left just as suddenly, not leaving a single trace, just the memory, and the thought that perhaps it was just a figment of my imagination. _

"_So, um, what was the plan for this dream?" I asked, steering us in a different direction, glancing around us at the crowds of passing people, the clear skies above us, the boards of the deck beneath our feet, anywhere except at Damon._

"_We can do anything you want, Elena," he replied, his voice back to its usual smooth, silk tone._

"_Well what is there to do on a ship like this?" I asked, not quite sure what to do or even suggest._

"_This isn't just the _Titanic_, Elena. This is your dream. We could do anything."_

_I pondered this for a second. We were on the _Titanic_. I could see what it was like to travel like the wealthy in 1912, explore it with someone that had been there. But Damon's words put another thought into my mind. _Titanic_: the ship of dreams. That sparked a familiar cord and I knew what we would do, something I had dreamed since I was a little girl._

"_Anything I want?" I reaffirmed._

"_Anything," he answered._

_I put my hand on Damon's arm without giving an explanation, and he instantly matched the poses of the other men onboard, the arm I held bent in front of his body, his hand resting lightly on his stomach, and his other hand behind his back. He allowed me to lead without questions, and we began walking along the groups of people that separated as we came closer. Some of the people smiled at us or gave us a friendly nod as we passed, but mostly they moved from our path, not paying us any heed._

"_So what was it like? Being on the _Titanic_?" I asked him as we wandered toward the bow of the boat._

"_Like being on any other ship, I suppose," Damon said, shrugging. "There was a brief time, after I was first turned, that I embraced my vampirism, but that time was brief, and when I got to Italy, I remembered that that wasn't what I had wanted. Stefan had forced me to turn, and the thought of having to wait a hundred and fifty years before I could get Katherine out of that tomb unsettled me, but I remained faithful to Katherine, for a while anyway."_

"_You didn't have any other women for fifty years?" It seemed impossible to believe. The Damon I knew had slept with hundreds of women._

"_I _was _raised to be a Southern gentleman, Elena," he stated, placing his hand on his chest in mock offense. "I had sworn myself to be loyal to Katherine and Katherine alone. Only later did I learn my bad ass and womanizing ways," he said smirking down at me. I rolled my eyes at him. "Anyway," Damon moved on with his story, "during this time, I only fed when I had to, and I always left the people alive. While I was here, I enjoyed the service and the sea. I've always loved the freedom of being on the water, and the fact that there was a good staff always on duty to see to any needs made it a luxurious trip… for as long as it lasted anyway."_

"_What did you do when it sank?" I asked, always curious about Damon's past._

"_I stayed onboard until she sank. Then I was pulled from the water when one of the lifeboats came back."_

"_Why did you wait?"_

_Damon didn't answer at first. He looked in front of us, no doubt seeing that night lay out before him. He opened his mouth, then quickly closed it again, as if he was not sure what exactly to say. "I wanted to be sure that they had room for everyone that needed it before I got in a boat. I could have stayed in the water all night, and it would have made no difference. I wanted to be sure that the boats were full of the living people first."_

_I didn't know how to respond. I was baffled by Damon's chivalry and nobility. He had stayed loyal to Katherine. Though he had loved her for nearly a hundred and fifty years and his heart always remained hers, he had actually attempted to stay completely loyal to her. And he opted to stay in the frigid waters until all everyone had been rescued because he wanted to be sure that he wasn't taking the place of someone that could have been saved and could have lived. This was a side of Damon I had only ever caught glimpses of, in those moments when Damon was selfless and caring for his brother, saving me, protecting the people of Mystic Falls. This was a side that he tried to keep hidden, but it was always there, just beneath his tough exterior._

_My thoughts were interrupted by a man roughly bumping into me. I staggered and almost fell, but Damon caught me easily, steadying me by placing one hand on the small of my back and the other grabbed my arm. The man stopped and stretched his arms out in front of him in an apologetic manner._

"_I'm so sorry," his said with a thick British accent. "I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you all right? You're not hurt are you?"_

_I looked up at him. He had light brown hair that barely brushed his forehead. He looked like all the other gentlemen, a black suit with slicked back hair, nothing out of place. He seemed perfectly harmless, except his eyes. Those green eyes were cold and reminded me of a look I had seen before. They shook me with fear instantly and sent a shiver through my body. I reached up and grabbed Damon's sleeve, backing up closer to him and he wrapped his arms around me protectively, picking up on my fear. This man seemed familiar, and I knew I had felt this dread before, but it was hard to place his face._

"_Um, no. I'm fine. I should have been paying closer attention too," I said to him._

_The man apologized again then turned and walked away without another word or glance. I watched him disappear around a corner, the entire time clutching to Damon._

"_That man, he seemed… it was like I'd seen him somewhere before. And the look in his eyes…"_

"_An old nightmare maybe?" Damon suggested. "Sometimes the subconscious can bring up things like that."_

"_Maybe…"_

"_Don't worry, Elena. I can combat anything your mind cooks up. The only dangerous thing in your mind right now is me."_

"_You're not dangerous," I said looking up at him._

_Damon only gave a short scoff. "So Elena, where were you dragging me before we were interrupted?" Damon asked, changing the subject, looking at my with a curious glint in his eyes._

"_Well," I started, not sure how to put my idea into words or what Damon would think of it, "I was thinking, since we were here, and it is a dream, so we could just-"_

"_Elena?" he said, breaking through my ramblings._

_I sighed a detached myself from Damon's embrace. Instead of explaining, I stood in front of him, imagining myself in deep blue, velvet dress, with silk panels running down the front decorated with small, baby blue flowers and a silk color. A large silk sash covered my waist and above it, the bust was covered by white lace. The sleeves ended at my elbows, and a white scarf with gold embroidery was draped across my arms. My hair was loosely curled and pinned up in the back. Damon was now in brown, slightly baggy trousers, with worn out brown boots that weren't laced. He had on a dirty white shirt and oversized black coat. Damon's dark hair was now back to the normal style I've always known, loose, falling into his eyes a little, though maybe a bit shorter around his ears._

_We were now standing at the very bow of the boat. The sky had darkened above us into a light shade of purple with soft pinks and oranges lined the horizon. The water was now a deeper shade of blue, a sign of the oncoming night._

"_What is this?" Damon asked, indicating his attire. I couldn't tell if he was just confused or a little amused, maybe a little annoyed. "Seriously Elena?"_

"_Why not? It is a dream after all. I've had this dream many times, since I was a little girl from the first time I saw the movie. I always woke up with a smile."_

"_Damon Salvatore does not travel third class and does not dress like… this," Damon said, instantly returning to his suit._

"_And Damon Salvatore is very conceited to be talking about himself in the third person," I said jokingly._

"_I've never claimed not to be…" Damon seemed to be searching for the proper word._

"_Arrogant? Smug? Snobbish? Narcissistic?" I supplied._

"_Highly self-confident," Damon shot back._

_I laughed at his defiant smirk. "Is that what you call it?"_

"_Do I at least get to draw you like naked French girls later?" Damon asked playfully, flashing me that flirty eye thing he does._

_I shook my head as I rolled my eyes. I held my hand out to him, silently asking. After a moment, I added, "Please? Humor me."_

_Damon barely hesitated before he reached up and took my hand. I pulled him to the railing happily, and he helped me up before stepping up behind me, bracing me against his body, holding me securely by the hips._

"_You do realize how cliché this is, right?" he asked. _

"_Just hush," I said._

_I stretched my arms out and felt the wind whip around us. Damon's head was resting on my shoulder, his cheek pressed against my own._

_It was empowering to stand here, looking out over an endless ocean. It did feel like flying. I was gliding over these vast waters with Damon holding me in his protective embrace._

"_Would you like me to sing to you too?" Damon asked teasingly._

_I turned my head to the side, looking him in the eyes. "No, just hold me."_

_Damon wrapped his arms completely around me, and I placed my hands over his, entwining our fingers. I kept looking at him, taking in every feature, the way he stared back at me, his smile, the shadows that only served to better define the lines of his face. I was overwhelmed with the sense I had felt earlier, the involuntary need to move away from him, to create space between us, but I fought it this time. This time I _knew_ I didn't want to move away. I wanted to be closer to Damon._

_The look Damon had earlier was back as well, and this time, as he leaned closer, I didn't pull away, even with the strong pulling inside me and the quiet reminder that I shouldn't, that something, someone else was waiting. I let Damon lean closer and closer, until he was just a breath away, but he paused, giving me one last chance to escape. I knew if I let this happen, it would change everything, but I just reached up, twisting my fingers in the small hairs at the nape of his neck and brought him closer until our lips met._

_Damon's lips moved against mine smoothly in a natural, easy way. His kiss easily conveyed his passion, and I was quickly swept away in it, my head going light and my body feeling like it had been detached. I leaned in closer, turning my head more to be closer to him. I never wanted to lose this feeling of floating and being grounded only by Damon's arms and caress._

_When Damon finally released me, letting me take a quick breath, I noticed everything was blurred around us. I sighed and rested my forehead against Damon's._

"_I don't want to wake up. You won't be there when I open my eyes." _But Stefan will_. That thought caught me off guard. That's who I'd been forgetting all night. Stefan. He was asleep, in bed, with me, at this moment. He was the reason I shouldn't have kissed Damon, the reason I had so easily forgotten._

_For a second, I considered telling Damon that Stefan was back with me in the waking world, but as I looked into Damon's eyes, I knew I didn't want to talk about Stefan and ruin the dream Damon had just given me. I just wanted Damon._

"_I'll be there soon. I promise, Elena."_

'_The full moon?"_

"_Then I'll always be there when you wake up in the mornings. I'll be the first thing you see."_

_I smiled and leaned closer into his chest. Damon pulled me down with him onto the main deck and draped his arms around my shoulders, pressing my chest tightly against his. I wrapped my arms around his back and together we watched the horizon muddle with the common sign of sleep giving way._

_In the last moment, when there was nothing but Damon and bright, shapeless globs of color left, the dreamy daze disappeared, taken over by the scene of the gray fog had created, the mysterious jail cell. It appeared, not as transparent, distant fog, but completely clear around us, as though we were standing in a prison cell. It was only a fraction of a second, only long enough to register what it was, then it was gone, just as before._

"_Damon-" I gasped, gripping his jacket in fist, but before I could do or say any more, I was thrust into consciousness and everything, even Damon, disappeared from around me._

**Disclaimer #2 (didn't put it at the top because I wanted Damon to reveal where they were): I do not own **_**Titanic.**_

**A/N: Yay! Pure Delena-ness, just as promised. Was it too cheesy? I don't know, I liked it, but tell me what you think. I have a few days of spring break left, but the new **_**Vampire Diaries**_** book came out on Tuesday so I'm probably going to be very distracted, so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be here, but it's in the works… in my head, but that's where all greatness comes from. Thank you again for the reviews**

**Please review and tell me what you think.**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Wow! There were so many alerts, reviews, and favorites last chapter, an all-time record for this story. I was overwhelmed. Thank you all so much. I can't even tell you how excited I was when I saw everything in my inbox…. Y'all are all so awesome. I know it's taken forever for this chapter, but it was difficult for me to even figure out how this should start.**

**Now we got great Delena-ness last chapter, so it's time to get back to Stefan and all his odd behavior….**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Vampire Diaries**_**.**

My eyes opened to the darkness with a strong pair of arms wrapped around my waist, holding me from behind. "Damon?" I whispered into the darkness, my mind not yet registering where I was, my head still foggy with sleep, still wrapped up in the edgy fear. I tried to remember what had sparked the fear in my chest, but that had faded as soon as I opened my eyes, leaving the tense anxiety behind with no justification. The last thing I could remember was Damon, his arms wrapping tighter around me, no doubt trying to protect me from whatever had triggered my distress.

"Damon?" I asked again, my hands traveling down my body to where his rested securely on my stomach. My fingers laced with his, his daylight ring digging into my palm. As I started rubbing his knuckles gently with my thumbs, I felt the fear easing in my chest, and I snuggled my back closer into his body. It was impossible to not feel safe with him this close to me.

My eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, revealing Damon's immaculate room that had become my home for the past week. My eyes landed on the clock on the nightstand. Somehow, it was only three-thirty-seven in the morning. After the dream Damon and I had shared and how perfectly rested I felt now that my fear was eased from my body, I expected it to be late in the morning or perhaps even early in the afternoon.

A sigh escaped the body behind me, and his arms wrapped tighter around my waist. My name fell from his lips, a hushed "Elena" escaping with his breath. My body stilled for a moment, not expecting _that_ voice to come from behind me. It was that moment I realized his ring was pressed against the wrong palm, my right palm.

I released his hands and turned in his embrace, careful not to wake him. I stared at his face, gentle and peaceful with slumber. Stefan, _my_ Stefan, was so beautiful in that moment with shadows gracing his pale skin, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth, his eyes fluttering behind his lids as he was being swept up in his own dreams.

Quietly, I wondered how I had possibly forgotten him, how my mind was so tangled up in other things that I had forgotten _him_. Why had he escaped my thoughts? For only a moment, I questioned the possibilities until I came to the undeniable answer: _Damon_, the bad brother, the strong Salvatore, my powerful protector. Whenever I'm with Damon, it consumes me, my every breath, my every thought, my everything. It was so easy to forget everything, not only Stefan. When we were in Georgia, what seemed like so long ago, I was so lost in our five minutes together, forgetting all of Mystic Falls, only caring for the two of us. I could completely lose myself when I'm with him, but now that I have Stefan here, right in front of me, his chest pressed against mine, our breaths mingling between us, it was hard to imagine ever letting him slip my mind.

Nevertheless I had forgotten him, though it may seem unimaginable. I had forgotten him to the point I let his brother kiss me... No, Damon hadn't kissed me; I had kissed him; we had kissed each other. I couldn't just blame him for the kiss; I had wanted it too. Even now, as I lay in Stefan's arms, I yearned for another of Damon's kisses, a million more.

As I watched Stefan sleep beside me, I felt the sharp pain of guilt shoot through my chest for thinking of Damon with Stefan's body pressed against mine. I tried to push the guilt away, bury it deep down with some of my most severe pains and heartache, but as I tried, I realized something. I didn't feel guilty because it happened. I felt guilty because Stefan was right here with me, because he didn't know what had with his brother even while I was in his arms, because I _didn't_ feel guilty it had happened. I felt guilty for the circumstances, not the kiss. I couldn't bring myself to feel guilty for the kiss itself. In that moment, when his lips melted with mine, it felt right, and I couldn't be guilty for that.

My thoughts ran together, images of Damon on a bright, lively color background mixing with the vision of Stefan in front of me, blanketed in the black and white shadows of night. I sighed and untangled myself from Stefan's arms, needing to clear my mind, not able to do so wrapped up in him. He made a soft whine as I tried to move away, his embrace trying to pull me closer to him, but I was able to escape him fairly easily. As I stood beside the bed, I grabbed one of Damon's shirts that had been left on the floor, slipping it on over my blue tank top, his shirt long enough to cover the tops of my thighs, my shorts barely visible from underneath.

Silently, I moved to the top of the stairs. Before I could take the first step away, there was a rustling of sheets and once again Stefan called my name; this time it was clearer, only slightly heavy with sleep.

I turned back to face him, silently cursing myself for waking him. He was sitting up, resting on his elbows, the sheets pooled around his waist. His bright green eyes, quietly asking why I was leaving him, were the only color I could see in the room. They were staring at me with such intensity, not the emptiness I had seen yesterday. It was almost terrifying, the look in those green pools, yet slightly exhilarating, the way they could pierce straight through me, sending a shock through my body, leaving me shaking as I stood there, something they had never done before. They were deep, almost glowing pools of green, Stefan's green, and the spark, a bright fire from deep within, was new. His eyes were practically gleaming in the darkness by a light I had never seen in Stefan before. It was like looking into a stranger's eyes, yet they were undeniably Stefan's. Somehow, they stood out from the shadows, drawing me to him in a way they never had before, pulling me closer until I was standing in front of him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, reaching out and cradling my face in his palms.

"I'm fine, Stefan," I replied quietly, a little cautiously. "I can't sleep, not tired anymore. Go back to bed. I just need to stretch my legs for a minute." I pushed him back on the mattress, my hand moving over the contours of his chest. I leaned down and pressed a small kiss onto his lips, hearing him sigh at the contact. "I'll be back in a while."

He sunk back into the bed, and I returned to the stairs. I gave him one last glance over my shoulder. His arms were stretched toward the side of the bed I had occupied, as though he was reaching for me. His face was no longer soft with night, but harsh as the darkness covered his face with black lines that broke his expression into nightmarish pieces. He wore a scowl where a tiny smile had been only minutes before. This didn't look like Stefan; this looked like a monster, a monster of the night.

I ran down the stairs quickly, nearly tripping to the bottom. I knew Stefan would never hurt me, he would never be that creature, but he had acted so strangely yesterday, so distant, and just now in the bedroom, his eyes had shown someone completely foreign, completely threatening, and I had no idea what _that_ Stefan would do to me.

As I came to the bottom of the stairs, my hand pressed over my pounding heart, my arm draped over the banister, I felt a wave of laughter rip through me. I quickly covered my mouth, muffling my giggles, not wanting to wake up anyone else in the house. Perhaps I was not as rested as I thought; I was acting ridiculous. I was scared of _Stefan_. I had run from the room, desperate to be away from him because of a simple trick of shadows. Maybe, it was just some of the fear that had been left over since my dream, trying to escape by making me see Stefan as a danger. I was being irrational, nothing more. I had three vampires, a witch, and a vampire hunter in the house, all people that cared for me and were willing to protect me; I had no reason to fear any of them or anything as minuscule as shadows.

Briefly, I considered returning Stefan; I probably shouldn't have left him in the first place. If I went back now, the sheets would still be warm, and I could ease that scowl from his features, preventing that worrisome crease from appearing between his furrowed eyebrows. However, as I turned around, a light caught my eye.

The back curtain was pulled back and was gently swaying and blowing with the light wind that came through the open door. Moonlight streamed inside, creating a white, glossy path to the back door. I could hear the quiet swells of waves and the soft whisper of wind blowing over the tall grasses, pulling me closer to the welcoming night. For a second, I paused at the door, unsure if I should step into the unprotected world bathed in bright moonlight. Creatures lived in the night, creatures like those that had taken Damon away, creatures that could just as easily take me. The night was not safe, but I looked back into the house and saw Alaric peacefully sleeping on the couch, a bottle of alcohol next to him on the floor, no doubt taken from Damon's stash, softly snoring with a blanket pulled up to his shoulders and a vervain dart gripped in his hand hanging over the edge of the couch, and I couldn't help but feel that nothing would harm me in the dangerous night.

I moved onto the patio, breathing in the fresh air coming off the water. The moon shone brightly from the heavens, making the world sparkle in its pure light. For the second time, I felt foolish for fearing this beautiful night. Nothing awful would happen to me, not with the protection I had here. The vampires that had taken Damon wouldn't even know where to begin looking for me. I was safe for now.

I looked out over the vast backyard. Night had blanketed the grass with soft dew that caught the moonlight, trapped it, shining like tiny jewels. The wind that swept over the ground only allowed them to sparkle more. The water also glistened as the nearly full moon. The moon was cradled gently by the water, setting in the distance, taking up the greater portion of the sky. I smiled as I gazed up at that moon, large and almost perfectly round. A few days were left, but soon it would be full, and Damon would escape.

I was ready to return to the house, my arms wrapping around myself to fight off the cold winter air, but I noticed a silhouette standing on the edge of the water, perhaps even standing in the light surf. I moved forward carefully, my feet making light _squish_ noises as they moved over the wet ground. As I got closer, I recognized Rose standing with her arms crossed over her chest. She didn't respond as I came to stand beside her. She remained perfectly still, and I remained quiet for a minute, not wanting to interrupt whatever deep thoughts she was lost to.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" she asked with a sigh, finally turning her head to look at me. She looked tired, her eyes not as sharp as they normally were, her hair more tousled than usual. She blinked slowly, taking her time with every action of her body, the small tilt in her head, the calculated breaths.

"I woke up early. Why are you out here? It's much warmer inside," I said, taking a step back toward the house, hoping she would follow. Rose looked like she needed rest, like she was worn out.

"Temperature doesn't affect a vampire, Elena. I'm fine. You, however, shouldn't be out here with so little on. This cold air isn't good for humans to breathe, and the wet ground isn't good on bare feet."

I smiled slightly, choosing to ignore the edge in her voice. "You sound like my mother."

Rose's face softened a bit. "I'll take that as a compliment." She took her jacket off and handed it to me. I accepted it happily, glad to have another layer covering my arms. I pulled it tightly around me, and I felt more comfortable with both the extra protection from the frigid air and her tiny gesture.

"You never answered my question. Why are you out here?" I asked again.

"I needed fresh air to think." Rose pinched the bridge of her nose, as though she was unsure how to continue.

"Rose? Is something wrong?" She was making me uncomfortable. Rose was never this unsure about herself. She was known for speaking her mind and giving her opinion, not caring for the reactions of others.

She sighed deeply, before looking me straight in the eye. "A body was found about ten miles south from here. It was a vampire attack, Elena."

I froze, not breathing for a moment. My body was suddenly colder than it had been, as though I had been frozen from the inside. "Are you- are you sure it was a vampire?"

Rose nodded solemnly. "And a careful one. It tried to hide it, but not well enough."

"What does this mean?" I asked slowly.

"I have two theories, and I know you won't want to hear either of them," she stated, her voice dropping a little. She continued before I had the chance to say anything. "It could be Stefan. We don't know where he was before he got here; we don't even know how he got out of wherever Klaus had him. Or, Klaus' men followed him here, and they're in the area, waiting to strike."

My mind was racing. Stefan? Klaus? Other vampires? My thoughts lingered on Stefan. He had acted so strangely. Was it possible that he had attacked a human, that the blood in his system was making him behave so oddly? A soft voice whispered from the back of my mind, _Certainly you must have suspected Stefan of something. He's not the same. Who's to say he wasn't changed while he was captured by Klaus? Who's to say he's still _your _Stefan? _I shook the voice off, not willing to listen to its insanity. Something was wrong with Stefan, I could admit that, but he wasn't a different person. He wouldn't hurt anyone.

"There's also the possibility," Rose started slowly, cutting into my thoughts, carefully gauging my reaction, "that Stefan brought them here."

"No," I answered quickly, strongly. "Stefan _wouldn't_ do that. How do we even know that it's one of Klaus' vampires? It could just be someone that lives in this area, or even someone just passing through. There's nothing that says for sure this is a threat to _us._"

"Perhaps," Rose conceded, "but it's too dangerous to consider that as a possibility. We need to be looking at worse case scenarios. If one of Klaus' men is here or something is wrong with Stefan, we need to take care of it before we all end up dead."

"Stefan didn't do anything to jeopardize us. I know he wouldn't," I stated forcefully.

"You say that Elena, but do you honestly believe it yourself? I noticed how he was so distant yesterday, and I know you did too. He's staying away from the group, and yesterday when you two were sitting on the couch, he was edgy."

"You don't know-" I started, but she cut me off quickly.

"His eyes dart around, like he's watching every single movement in the room, like he's calculating the distance between himself and every other person in the house, planning his attack. He can't stay still. That's typical of any vampire with strong cravings. Skin starts crawling, and muscle contract, trying to attack, knowing that everything it needs is just through that thin layer of the nearest human's skin, and every time a heart beats, it sends the pulse through the air; you can feel it against your skin, smell the precious blood with each wave. It's intoxicating and extremely hard to fight. Stefan isn't the same. Either he's had human blood and doesn't know how to control himself now, or they did something to him to crave it enough to act so sketchy, and someone else killed that girl. Either way, it's not safe for us with another vampire in the area."

"What do you suggest we do?" I asked quietly, still processing everything she had said.

"We either get out now and run, or we hunt down the vampire that killed that girl and make sure he can't come after us. Personally, I say we go inside, wake everyone up, and leave. We can be across the border in a matter of hours."

I considered her words, scared by everything they meant, all the weight they held. From within, a new voice came, not the typical voice my subconscious used, a stronger, more forceful thought. _Stay here. Stefan's no threat and we need to stay exactly where we are. _"No," I whispered, "we can't leave yet. Alaric, he knows how to track vampires. He can probably find this one. When he wakes up, we can go from there, track him down and get some answers."

"Fine," Rose answered, not looking entirely pleased. "We'll do it your way. It hasn't gotten us killed yet. Hopefully this time will be no different."

We stood in a strained silence for a long time, neither of us willing to discuss our different opinions. We just stared at the horizon, waiting for something to break the tension between us, but not able to do it ourselves. I know I should have considered Rose's words a little more carefully, but something told me that we needed to be here, waiting for when Damon made his escape, and I absolutely couldn't see Stefan as dangerous. Yes, he was acting off, and yes, there was something different about the way he looked at me, and yes, he had scared me this morning with the shadows across his face, but there was unquestionably nothing in Stefan that could hurt me, even if he was the one that attacked that girl. I had seen Stefan on human blood before, and even in that dark time, he could control himself enough to not harm me. If we needed to, we could break him of his bloodlust. Damon and I did it once. I could do it again.

We remained still until the sun began to paint the horizon with a glowing gold. Rose began to twitch as it started to get brighter.

"I need to get inside," she said, finally breaking our long silence. "Do me a favor, Elena. Be careful around Stefan. I know you trust him, and you don't want to see him as anything awful, but he is a vampire, and if something is wrong with him, it could spell disaster for us all."

She turned without another word and went into the house. I heard the quiet thump as the door was pulled back into place. I didn't move. I didn't know where to go except back into the house. I didn't want to have to go in there and explain how we were still in danger, I didn't want to face Stefan, afraid of what I would see, and I especially didn't want to feel the terrible absence of Damon. He was always there when things like this happened, when we were in danger and needed to formulate a plan. Suddenly I wished I had told Damon about Stefan. Damon would have the right answers; he always knew what to do.

Sadly, I turned and walked back into the house. I didn't have any answers, and I had no hope of getting them by just standing there. Action was needed, Damon was needed, but we would just have to try to get through this without his help. We had to get through this so when the time came, we would be able to help him. Whatever was wrong with Stefan, whoever had attacked that girl, whatever was going to happen next couldn't be helped while I just stood there.

I entered the house, pulling back the curtain as little as possible so I didn't harm Rose. I looked around the rooms, taking in everything. Alaric was still asleep on the couch. The vervain dart had fallen from his hand and now rested on the floor by his alcohol. I walked closer to him quietly so I wouldn't wake him. I pulled the blanket up further on his body. The back door had been open the entire time Rose and I had been out there, and Ric was gently shaking from the chilly winter air that had crept in. After a few moments, his shaking stopped and he relaxed further into the couch. I moved away before I could disturb his slumber. We needed him completely rested before we began the hunt for the new vampire. He could sleep a little longer. Rose was in her usual chair in the library, a book in her hand. She wasn't reading it, she was just holding it between her hands, feeling the matter under her fingers. She seemed to lost her owm thoughts to be interested in the book. Caroline and Bonnie must have been in the other bedroom, still held in their own sleep.

I moved to the bottom of the stairs, unsure what to do except return to my own bed. I took the first step hesitantly.

"Elena?" Rose called softly. I turned back to her with a questioning look. "Please be careful."

I nodded once before I ascended the rest of the stairs, this time not hesitating, moving with sureness. _This is Stefan_, I reminded myself. _I have nothing to fear._

He was lying on his side, facing the empty expanse of bed beside him. He was still reaching, and the scowl on his face had morphed into a full grimace. He looked menacing, but worried, as if he was scared but tried to hide it behind his rough exterior.

I crawled under the sheets beside him, pulling Damon's shirt over my head first and placing it on the nightstand. His arms immediately wrapped around me, encasing me between them, pulling me into his chest. He sighed as he brought be closer to his body, and the look on his face was quickly wiped away and replaced with a content smile. I reached up and smoothed the course lines that remained on his forehead from frowning so long. My thumbs rubbed them away until his face was void of any sign of his earlier distress. My hands finally rested on his cheeks, gently holding his face between my palms. He leaned into my touch, pressing his cheek into them.

"I missed you," he whispered without opening his eyes.

"I'm back now, Stefan."

His smile grew and he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to my forehead. I smiled too myself. My loving Stefan… He slipped back into his slumber, and I just gazed at him as he breathed softly, his chest brushing against mine. I memorized every line in his face, storing it in my heart, hoping this image of him would stay with me and I wouldn't forget him again.

Countless minutes passed as we just held each other, Stefan sleeping peacefully in my arms. Eventually he began to stir, and his eyes opened to meet mine. Once again I was caught off by the look in those green eyes, but this time there was mischief in them, making them shine with playfulness, not whatever sinister light appeared there this morning.

"Good morning, lovely Elena," he whispered, placing a kiss on the tip of my nose.

I giggled. "Good morning, yourself."

"How long have you been awake?" he asked, the ghost of his concerned face appearing.

"Not too long," I lied.

He rolled his eyes, catching my fib. "You just get too much joy out of creepily staring at people in their sleep."

"Not people, Stefan. Just you."

Stefan leaned over me, his body now hovering over mine. He pressed a kiss on my lips, a chaste, sweet kiss. He pulled back after only a few seconds, his fingers combing through my hair.

"I love you, Stefan."

"I love you too." He kissed me again, this time deeper, with more passion. "So much," he whispered as he pulled away, his forehead resting against mine, our noses pressed against each other's.

There was a light knock from the other side of the room, and Stefan quickly rolled off me and pulled the sheets further up my body, though I was completely covered. Rose stood at the top of the stairs, her gaze hard as she looked over Stefan. "Everyone else is awake," she said in a cold tone. We need to discuss the situation when you two are ready." She retreated back down the stairs after giving me a pointed look.

"Situation? What situation?" Stefan asked, his face easily conveying his confusion. "What is she talking about?"

"Come on," I sighed, standing up. "I'll explain it to everyone."

Stefan pulled on his shirt and pants from yesterday, and together we walked down stairs. Everyone was waiting for us in the living room, Bonnie and Caroline still in their pajamas. Caroline and Bonnie sat on one couch, Ric on the other. Rose stood off to the side, her eyes always on Stefan, watching his every move with suspicion. I sat next to Ric and Stefan leaned in the armrest next to me, his arm wrapped around my shoulders.

"We have a problem," I started. I quickly ran through the conversation between Rose and me this morning, leaving out her suspicion of Stefan. Everyone listened carefully. They were all worried about this new threat. "Do you think we could be able to hunt him down Ric?" I asked once I was finished.

"It may be hard, but we should be able to," he answered, running his hands through his messy hair. "We should go soon. When did the girl die? Do you know?" he asked looking at Rose.

"She was found late last night, only dead a couple of hours."

"That means the vampire was at the sight of the murder last night," he said with a somber tone. We need to go soon. Vampires are easiest to find in the daytime. Most of them don't have nifty daylight rings, so they're trapped in one place until nightfall."

Everyone began to move about. Caroline and Bonnie went to change into appropriate clothing. Alaric began to shift through his weapons arsenal, putting some to one side, some into his black bag. Rose moved back to the library. This seemed to be her comfort zone, the place she retreated to. Stefan was still sitting on the armrest, his fingers twisting the ends of my hair between them.

"I guess I should go get into a pair of jeans," I stated, standing.

"Elena," Rose's voice drifted toward me, "are you sure you should be going with them?"

"She has a point Elena,' Stefan said, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. "You could get hurt, and we don't need you out in the open in case this is one of Klaus' minions. Maybe you should stay here with Rose. She can protect you while the rest of us are out hunting."

I started to protest, but the warning look Rose gave me silenced me before I could get a word out. Five minutes later, Bonnie, with her grimoire, Caroline, with one of Alaric's crossbows, Stefan, with one of the stake guns, and Alaric, with his bag of vampire weapons, left to find whatever creature had killed the girl, leaving Rose and me behind.

"It would have been too dangerous for you to go with them," Rose stated once we could no longer hear the sound of Damon's tires on the driveway. I didn't respond, just sat on the couch, staring into space.

The rest of the day passed slowly, and it all blended together. Rose stayed in the library, reading through Damon's countless books. I took a shower, watched a couple of movie, wrote in Damon's diary, but none of it took my mind off the group of vampire hunters. I was worried about them, and I had nothing to distract me from my apprehensions. I tried to fall asleep around midafternoon, hoping to find distractions in my dreams, but even sleep evaded me.

When night fell, I began to get restless. They weren't back yet. Rose said it was normal, and not to worry, but it was hard not to. I paced by the door, hoping to hear the sound of tires drawing near.

After an hour of pacing, the phone rang in the living room. Rose and I both looked at it questionably. When it became apparent that it wasn't going to stop, Rose picked it up carefully.

"Hello?" she answered slowly. She was quiet for a moment before offering the receiver to me.

I took it hesitantly, but she nodded to assure me it was okay. "Hello?"

"Elena," Stefan's voice came from the other end.

"Stefan," I sighed, pleased to hear his voice.

"We've found signs of another vampire. We may be out for a while still. I just wanted to call you so you wouldn't stress. We'll probably be back before morning, but you shouldn't wait up for us."

"Be careful Stefan."

"I will. I promise," he assured me.

"I love you Stefan. Make sure you get everyone back here in one piece."

"I will Elena. I love you too. I'll see you in the morning."

Before I could say anything else, I heard the click that signaled the end of the call. I felt like crying as I placed the receiver back in the cradle.

"I'm going to head up to bed," I called as I ran up the stairs.

I didn't even bother getting out of my jeans. I just crawled between the sheets, softly sobbing as I felt how empty the bed was without Stefan in it. I still had the fears Rose had planted in me, but the greater part of me trusted Stefan and wanted him back from this dangerous hunt. I don't know how long I cried or if Stefan ever joined me. A darkness that was becoming all too familiar encased me in its comforting depths, and I was carried away as sleep easily quieted my tears.

**Yay! A new chapter! Tell me what you think. I love your opinions.**

**Quick note: When checking through all the patterns this story has followed since I started posting it, I noticed, there is a ton of activity on the first chapter then it drops drastically though the others, which is to be expected, but I went back and reread it. I honestly questioned if I wrote it…, so I tweaked it a bit. Nothing major, I think just the first two paragraphs were changed, then just adding a word here, deleting a word there. Like I said nothing major. Check it out if you wish, but no great details were changed, just a little bit of description to make it flow better. Besides the first two paragraphs, I probably couldn't pick out the changes myself.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Follow me on twitter if you would like to keep tabs on the story: Vampiratess**

**Please review. It makes my writing mind happy.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I loved the reviews from last chapter. They all had me smiling. Thank you all so much. Enjoy this chapter and please review.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Vampire Diaries.**_

_A feathery wind was tickling at my toes, sweeping across me tenderly, like a light, cool sheet gently covering me. I was resting peacefully on my side, a soft cushion under me, my arm serving as a pillow, lightly cradling my head. A bright light shone through my eyelids, but I didn't open them immediately. This was a moment of thoughtlessness, when I could find peace in my own gentle breathing._

_When my eyes did finally open, they were met by a piercing blue. Damon stared at me intently, mere inches from my face, making my heart flutter in my chest. My air was caught in my throat, only a weak whisper of a breath escaping from my lips. He was so close, filling my vision, my every thought, consuming me. He smirked at me, gazing up through his lashes, making everything inside me quiver._

_He reached up slowly, his fingertips brushing against my cheek, a light feather of a touch. The pad of his thumb swept under my eyes gently, and I realized he was wiping away my tears._

"_What's wrong, my dear Elena? Why have you been crying?" he asked. His voice caught me off guard. It broke the silence with his smooth, velvety tones. He was concerned for me, always so worried that I was okay, constantly troubled with my safety and happiness._

_I had almost forgotten that I had been crying, and I certainly didn't want to think about what had caused the tears. As his hand cupped my cheek, I leaned into him, taking comfort from his sweet touch. "Just worried," I said, not wanting to explain the turmoil of emotions that had caused my grief, not sure I understood it myself. I had been worried for Stefan, leaving to track down the other vampire, upset because I had just gotten him back, but was that really why I had been so distraught? As I considered it for a moment, it wasn't just Stefan I was worried about, though a part of me had wanted it to be. Rose's speculation still rang in my head as I lay down. What if Stefan wasn't how he appeared, if he wasn't the loving boy I knew? He could hurt me, easily, with no hesitation. I had been crying because I was scared I had actually lost my loving Stefan. The greatest part of me didn't believe I had lost him, refused to believe I had, but was that part justified? It could be very dangerous if I was wrong._

_And if I was willing to be completely honest with myself, I was disappointed because it was Stefan's voice on the phone, it was Stefan helping protect me, it was just Stefan. A part of me I didn't want to acknowledge, a part that was almost impossible to ignore, a part that was difficult to silence, wanted it to be Damon. Damon was my protector, my savior, but he wasn't here to rescue me this time. That part of me, the greatest part, the part I didn't want, desperately yearned for Damon to be the one that had been in bed with me this morning. This piece was taking me over, consuming everything else. Just this morning, I had called for Damon, wanting his arms to be around me, and last night, I had let him kiss me, forgetting all else, forsaking Stefan, and I still couldn't bring myself to regret that. If I could be honest with myself, I knew, deep down, I was crying because I wanted Damon, but I refused to admit it. What does that say about me? I couldn't want Damon while I was waiting for Stefan; I couldn't kiss Damon while I was sleeping in Stefan's arms; I couldn't miss Damon's touch while Stefan held me, but I had, and I still did. I wanted nothing more than to have Damon with me, to know he was safe, and I knew that there was no way I would feel safe again until he was here to protect me. I was terrified every moment he was gone, though I could hold it in, lock it away in that dark place with all my other fears and pains, but it was there, waiting for me to give it one moment, one small slip of control before my fear took me over._

_I had to stop thinking. There was too much; it was too hard to control all the emotions boiling within me, threating to make me cry again. I closed my eyes to keep the tears that had begun to collect during my thoughts from spilling out. When I was confident I wouldn't break down, I opened them again and stared into the depths of Damon's eyes. He was smiling softly, and his eyes silently spoke that he understood, a quiet comfort._

"_I'm scared, Damon," I whispered. "I'm so scared."_

"_I know," he replied softly. "I'm worried too, Elena."_

_He leaned in very slowly and pressed a light kiss on my forehead. As I closed my eyes under his gentle gesture of comfort, in my mind's eye, a sense of déjà vu washed over me, showing me a picture very similar to this. It was like a distant memory, long forgotten, never thought of, but once it was brought to the surface, it had the same brilliance and beauty of the first time it had happened, but I had no recollection of this image. Damon was standing in front of me in the middle of my room, his sleeves rolled up just under his elbows, his shirt slightly unbuttoned. He took one small step closer, completely closing the gap between us. His blue eyes were foggy with emotions I had never seen before, not from Damon. He was hurting, the same pain in his eyes that was there when Bonnie destroyed Emily's crystal. He had just lost the last chance he thought he had at getting Katherine back, and that exact agony was in his eyes in my vision, like his heart was breaking, but there was also absolution, like he was completely sure of what he was doing, but he certainly didn't want to do it, whatever it was. He looked like he hated what he was doing, he was sure he had to but he had his reserves for doing it. And underneath it all was the thing I couldn't recognize, something that made me tremble and scared by its pure power. It was stronger than his rage and greater than his frustrations. It was a bright fire that ignited his eyes, a blue fire that stared at me with such intensity I couldn't move. In that moment, his walls were totally down, and he was standing before me, vulnerable and defenseless. This was something I had never seen, and in that moment, I knew I could hurt him more than he was already, but the more I thought about it, I was probably already the reason he was suffering. His eyes closed, shutting me off to the storm of emotions in his eyes, and he leaned forward, his lips lingering on my forehead for only a quick moment, before he stepped back. The vision faded, disappearing like our dreams together, getting lost in the foggy colors and bright lights. I tried to hold onto it, but it slipped away. I tried to bring it back, but I could barely remember anything about it, none of the details coming back together. Perhaps it was only a part of the dream, a piece of imagination running free, but it had felt real, as real as any memory._

_I opened my eyes as Damon pulled away from me, drawing me into his chest, encasing me in his strong arms. We just held each other for countless minutes, maybe hours. Damon ran his fingers soothingly through my hair, and I traced small patterns between his shoulder blades, trying to bring the memory back to the surface of my mind, failing every time._

"_Come on," Damon said after we had both relaxed into each other. My mind was eased, and though I was slightly disturbed by my odd vision, there were no more overwhelming thoughts, and Damon looked refreshed as I pulled back to look at his face. "You've barely been here for a few minutes and already this dream has become too heavy. I had planned mindless fun, and you turn it into this," he teased, smiling._

"_Where are we going tonight?" I asked, curious of what Damon had come up with._

"_See for yourself," he said, sitting up, pulling me with him._

_We were on a beach. We had been lying on a huge, dark blue blanket, the only barrier between us and the expanse of golden sand underneath us. A dark, green ocean stretched out in front of us, seeming to go on forever, getting lost behind the horizon. The waves were gentle, the green water and white foam nipping at the end of our blanket. A clear, perfect blue sky expanded above us, not a cloud to be seen. The sun, blanketing everything in a golden light, was beating down on us, but the salty breeze off the water easily battled the sun's heat. Not far, off to our right, was a large pier, reaching far out into the water. Laughter could be heard drifting over the waves, caught by the light breeze that was blowing. A giant Ferris wheel stood proudly over the world, taking up the greater part of the sky as we gazed upon it from below, its colorful gondolas slightly rocking with the wind. Other vibrant rides stood under the Ferris wheel, and occasionally the carts could be seen on the tracks, but from down here, they looked like they were flying through the sky. It was all beautiful, but the longer I looked at it, the stranger it became. There were dark, nearly transparent lines everywhere, evenly spaced across everything; no matter where I turned, they were there, but I had to focus very carefully to see them. If I concentrated enough, I could make out a darkness between the lines, but the moment my attention was broken, the lines and darkness were both gone, only faint memories and foggy images that could reappear with enough willpower. For a moment, I remembered something else: last night, mysterious lines, my morning fear. It was like we were in a cage, bars surrounding us. Besides the mysterious lines, the common fuzziness of approaching wakefulness was evident along the edges of the dream. There was absolutely no way morning was near yet, but the distorted, blurred colors played at the edges of my vision._

_I turned to Damon, concerned that something might be wrong. He wasn't in his usual black everything, but dark blue jeans and a dark grey t-shirt that hugged the tops of his arms and made his muscle stand out under the fabric. He was watching me as if he was vaguely, whimsically amused with my reactions, but there was something, some tiny thing in his eyes that looked distressed. He hid it well, but it was there. The closer I looked into his eyes, I could see a ghost of an expression on his face, a look of pain, concentration, exhaustion, exertion, like he was trying to do something he didn't have the strength to do._

"_Damon, is everything okay?" I asked, stepping a little closer to him, our chests now lightly brushing every time either of us took a breath._

_Immediately, the bleary edges cleared, the dark lines evaporated completely, and even the faint look in his eyes disappeared. He smiled, easily hiding everything he didn't want to show. "Everything's fine, Elena," he said smoothly, drawing out my name as if he was savoring it, but something in his voice said I shouldn't question his response even though I didn't believe him when he said it was "fine."_

"_The Santa Monica Pier?" I asked, changing the subject, redirecting our attentions, not wanting to push the matter. I knew that I probably should. Damon could be hurt or something could be interfering with the dream, but he had warning under his words, and I didn't want to ruin our dream._

"_Why not?" Damon shrugged. "I thought you might enjoy taking your mind away from our waking troubles. Besides," he said in a quieter voice, leaning closer to whisper in my ear, "I thought you might like to do something completely human, and nothing is more human than an amusement park."_

_I turned to him, not sure what to say. He just smirked at me and his eyes danced in their flirty, playful way. I couldn't help the smile that stretched across my lips. He wanted to see me happy, wanted to give me a break, wanted to take my mind away from our horrible situation. "Thank you, Damon," I whispered, unsure of what else to say. "For everything."_

"_Come on," Damon said again. He stood up, offering his hand to help me up. I took it gratefully, and after I stood, I held his hand, not willing to lose his contact, and he didn't pull away either, smiling at me softly. We began to walk down the beach toward the pier, the sounds of people and laughter and playful screams were getting gradually louder._

_A few people were wandering around the beach, couples holding hands and giggling gleefully, small families with little kids running under their parents' feet. As we passed many of them, they smile and waved, occasionally one would say 'hello' or 'good afternoon.'_

_One man we passed was walking alone. He was a younger man, his dirty blonde hair windblown and in disarray. As he came closer, I noticed his green eyes were cold and harsh as they scrutinized us. He instantly terrified me, a familiar trepidation, and I held onto Damon's hand tighter. I recognized him from last night's dream, and the longer I looked at him, he looked more recognizable, the look in his eyes the most familiar feature, something I had seen recently, but couldn't place. As he passed us, he reached up and touched his forehead in a tight movement, an unusual greeting._

"_Good day," he said, his voice laced heavily with a British accent._

_I turned to watch where he was going, scared to have my back to this creature, but he was gone, no sign of him, not even footprints in the sand. "Damon-," I started, but before I could say anymore, a pain grew in my chest, like I was being cut very slowly or something was trying to rip its way out of me. A white, fiery sting sat behind my eyes, growing larger with each second. A strangled moan left my lips as I brought my free hand up to cradle my head. A roar was building in my ears, loud and forceful, making me dizzy, feeling like my head was spinning, but I couldn't tell what the roar was. Briefly, I could make it out. It was only for a second, but the roar sounded like it was a voice, a voice yelling one thing: Stefan. The force of his name stopped me, and I fell to the sand, letting go of Damon's hand to hold my head, mangled cries escaping from my throat._

_The moment I released his hand, the pain began to clear. The roar faded, the monster inside my chest stilled, and the blinding pain behind my eyes receded. Once they were gone, it was as though they were never there. They left nothing behind; they disappeared as quickly as they had appeared._

"_Elena!" Damon was yelling. I realized he had been yelling at me the entire time, not sure what was happening to me, but it was hard to hear him through the paralyzing pain._

_I released my head, noticing I had been pulling on my hair in my effort to stop the pain. I looked up at him, dazed by what had just happened._

"_Are you okay? What the hell was that?" he asked. He was crouching beside me on the sand, his arms extended in front of him, but not touching me._

"_I'm fine," I said in a whisper. "I don't know what that was. It was just… pain, pure agony, but then it just… stopped."_

_Damon stood, looking around. He didn't look like he was seeing the beach around us, but something else, something only he could glimpse. I was watching him closely, unsure what to do or what he was doing. A small thought echoed in my mind: Stefan. The roar had been his name, over and over, filling my mind. Why had it been his name? Why Stefan? Perhaps this was my subconscious's way of reminding me of him, making sure I never completely forgot him, or maybe it had been the man's doing. Was that possible? Could it be Stefan himself, pulling me away from his brother even in my dream? Was Stefan that strong?_

"_Elena?" Damon broke through my thoughts, sitting down beside me. "Is everything okay?"_

_I nodded slowly, not sure anything could be okay after that. "I'm fine," I repeated. I bit my lip, knowing I had to tell Damon about Stefan, knowing that thunderous roar meant something and nothing good. I knew Damon needed to know. Part of his plan involved having to save his brother, but he didn't need saving now. Perhaps without having to worry about Stefan, Damon could escape sooner. A joy built in my chest at the prospect of seeing Damon soon, but I quickly suppressed it. I couldn't feel like that, and I had to focus on telling Damon before all else. "Damon, I need to tell you something…"_

_He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue, no doubt expecting me to give an explanation to my strange pain. I didn't know how to explain, unsure what he would say. I looked up at the sky, lying back on the sand, my head next to his knee. He watched me closely, but I didn't meet his gaze. I watched the sky carefully. It was darker than earlier, considerably darker, as though a storm was building._

"_Stefan's here." I said quickly, not knowing any easier way than just the straight truth. I couldn't beat around the bush; Damon would start to worry unnecessarily if I avoided it, and it seemed easier to just get it over with._

_It was silent for a long moment, no movement between the two of us. Neither of us was breathing, and the moment stretched on. I stared up at the sky, afraid of his reaction. It was darker now, thousands of times darker, nearly black. The clouds rolled around themselves, churning with the growing wind. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, blinding me for a moment. A few long seconds later, a deep, rumbling thunder shook the world around us._

_I sat up straight, frightened by the strange behavior of the weather. The sky looked almost black, the darkest grey possible, and the churning clouds looked as if they could swallow this world, leaving nothing behind._

"_What do you mean, Elena?" Damon asked slowly. He turned me gently so I was looking at him, his hand holding my chin. A sharp pain started in my jaw, but I could ignore it for the moment; I couldn't focus on anything but Damon. His eyes were a blue inferno of confusion, anger and pain. I wasn't sure what was most prominent and I didn't know what was going through his mind. He could be thinking anything, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. "What do you mean Stefan is there?"_

_I breathed deeply for a second, closing my eyes, wincing slightly at the growing pain spreading through my body. "A couple of days ago… I woke up and he was just… there."_

_Above us another clap of thunder sounded, this time louder and closer, shaking everything around us. I jumped a little, and Damon released my chin to run his fingers through his hair. Once he let go of me, the pain receded once again. I touched my jaw, but there was no pain, nothing._

"_A couple days, Elena? He's been there, and you didn't tell me the_ second_ he showed up?" Damon shouted. Another crash of thunder rolled to punctuate his question and anger. Lightning struck every few seconds, making the world around us flash as if we were standing under strobe lights. Damon stood up and began pacing, his hands clenched in tights fists at his side._

"_I couldn't tell you immediately, Damon," I said, standing up myself, feeling defensive from his tone. "If you haven't noticed, we don't exactly have the greatest form of communication right now."_

"_The first chance you had, you should have told me Elena. Do you even know how much danger you're in right now?" He was standing in front of me, his face furious. Every moment that passed, the storm above us grew bigger, the lightning quicker, the thunder louder, the sky darker. The waves were getting higher, wrapping around our ankles like cold, grabbing hands, trying to pull us into its depths._

"_Danger?" I yelled, starting to feel his anger. Damon was mad because I didn't tell him, because he thought Stefan could hurt me. I was upset because he immediately thought the worst of Stefan. I knew I needed to be wary of Stefan, but the fact that Damon would jump straight to the worst-case scenarios and the accusatory tone he had just made me want to retaliate. "It's Stefan we're talking about." As I spoke, rain began to fall, assaulting both of us with sharp, cold drops._

"_How did he get out Elena? Have you thought of that? There is no way in hell he was able to get out of here. It is crawling with vampires, vampires stronger than _I am_! Do you think he could just escape perfectly fine?" Damon fumed. He was pacing like a caged animal, his movements fluid and carefully calculated. He was looking around again like he wasn't seeing the beach, but something hidden to my eye. Water was falling down his face, dripping from the edge of his nose and chin, and he looked like he was twitching to be somewhere else._

"_He told me he was able to overpower the guards," I said quietly, thinking about what Damon had said. Damon's warning was stronger than any other, and it scared me._

"_More like they let him go. There is no possible way he got out on his own."_

"_What do you mean they let him go?" I was petrified now, no longer angry, my rage only a quick passing thing. I was terrified of what Damon would say next. For some reason, I knew what Damon would say would mean more than Rose's fears, more than my own uncertainty of Stefan. Damon was like this for one reason, I suddenly realized: _me_. He was worried about me, and I knew Damon would only do and say things to protect me, to make sure I was always safe._

_For a moment the storm calmed, the lightning stopped, the waves retreated to the sea and the thunder hushed to a light rumble._

"_Elena, run."_

"_What?" I yelled, confused by his order._

"_Wake up, and run. Get into the car, take Rose with you, she'll protect you, but you run." He was standing only inches away, gently cradling my face, his soaked chest under my fingers. The tips of my fingers and my cheeks burned, but I disregarded the pain. I was wrapped up in the worry behind Damon's blue eyes. "If they let Stefan go, he either led them straight to you, or it's his job to bring you here to them. You have to run, get away from there as soon as you can. Please Elena; you can't stay there with him."_

"_I… I can't just leave Damon. It's not just Rose and me here anymore. It's Caroline, and it's Bonnie, and it's Ric-"_

"_Ric? You brought Alaric too. Are you planning on putting everyone you know in danger?" For a moment, the storm overhead picked back up, the thunder crashing loudly, the sky darkening once more._

"_I thought we needed his help," I yelled back. "You weren't going to let me come after you, and I wasn't going to let you get yourself killed. I called in backup." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Besides, that's not the point here. If Stefan is working for Klaus, we're all in danger."_

"_I don't care about them Elena," he said. Looking me in the eye with such intensity. I was terrified by that look. Damon didn't get scared, not like this. "I only care about you, and I can't be there to save you, not yet."_

_I stood there shaking, not sure what to do, what to say. It was nothing new that Damon wanted to protect me, but that look in his eyes… it was so fierce and feral, something so wild that even Damon couldn't control it. That look held power, more power than should be possible, and I knew that with that look Damon would, and could, do anything, absolutely anything to ensure my safety._

"_The full moon is in two nights Elena. Please make sure nothing happens to you before I get there to protect you," Damon whispered._

"_Rose found a body," I said, not answering him. "She was killed by another vampire. You don't think Stefan is back on human blood, do you?"_

"_I don't know Elena. All I do know is that in a moment like this, I would be careful before I trusted him…" He paused, taking a deep breath, stepping away from me, releasing me from his hold and the ever-growing pains. "You're not going to leave, are you?"_

"_I don't know, Damon. I just… I don't know."_

"_How did he even find you?" Damon asked, his voice heavy with frustration. "Rose is one of the only people I have ever told about that house. There is no way he found it on his own."_

_I reached up and gently touched the bare skin of the hollow of my throat. "He had my necklace. He said he took it to a witch to track me."_

_Damon's head snapped over to me, looking at the empty space at the base of my throat. "I think you should put it back on," Damon said slowly, almost as if he was reluctant to say it._

"_But that would mean…"_

"_I know," he agreed, nodding. "No more dreams, but Elena, it's not worth it. Your mind isn't safe. If Stefan is on human blood, he can do things to your mind, influence you in ways you wouldn't know were possible. His influence would even be stronger than mine because he's closer to you. He could make you do things…"_

"_I don't care. I can't Damon. I can't lose you," I said quickly. I didn't know whether or not I could still trust Stefan, I didn't know whether or not to run like Damon suggested, but I did know absolutely that I couldn't close my mind to him, I couldn't lose Damon, even if he was only in my dreams. "I won't do that Damon."_

_He looked at me for a moment, almost starting to argue, but he stopped, seeing something that told him fighting would be useless. He smiled softly, a look of comfort and understanding crossing his features. "I can't lose you either Elena."_

_I felt tears forming in my eyes again. I tried to hold them back, desperate to keep my wits about me. "I thought getting Stefan back was a good sign… I thought if he could escape, you could…" My voice trailed off, and I closed my eyes as the tears began to flow._

_Damon's arms wrapped around me, and almost instantly, I felt like I was consumed by a fiery inferno, but I gritted my teeth to the pain, even as the furious roar began in my ears. I just wanted to feel his arms around me and know that for at least this instant he was alive._

"_It's all right, Elena," Damon was saying directly into my ear. "Please be safe. I'll be there soon; until then be safe and be careful."_

_Damon was saying more, but I couldn't hear him anymore. The roar was taking over, and the pain was blinding, a bright white brilliance overtaking my vision. The pain was dizzying, and a strained cry escaped my lips before I surrendered to the pain and let it drag me into the bright unknown._

**Please, please, please review. This chapter was difficult, and I would love to know what you think about it. Your opinions always mean so much to me, and I really want to know how you feel about this.**

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	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Vampire Diaries**_**.**

Shrill and terrified screams, a noise heavy with sheer panic and crippling pain, echoed throughout the house, ripping me from my sleep. Before my eyes even opened, I knew we'd been found, and now my friends were going to die. Klaus had found us, somehow, and already someone was dying. Maybe everyone was dead, and the screamer and I were the only ones left alive for the moment.

I didn't allow myself to dwell on that for more than a moment. If Klaus's vampires were here, the vampires that had failed to take me a week ago, the vampires that had stolen Damon, I knew we could never beat them. None of us would walk away from this, but we still had to fight.

I tried to get up, to jump into the brawl to help my friends, but I couldn't move. My legs were held to the bed by my ankles, a strong pair of hands bruising them, and my arms were locked securely behind my back, my shoulders burning, and another pair of hands were crushing my elbows together.

Instantly panic flooded through me. Without thinking, I began to thrash, my head whipping back and forth, a blur of colors flashing around me as I struggled hopelessly, the constraining hands never giving way. Tugging and kicking, my muscles were almost instantly fatigued, my entire body breaking into an frightful sweat as my panic and exhaustion worked over me. Even as my body grew continually weaker with my fighting, I kept trying to break loose.

"Elena! Elena!" several voices called over the never ending screams. I could hear Caroline and Alaric for certain. There was a sharp tug at my heart. They were all doomed, Alaric, Bonnie, Caroline, Rose, Stefan…

My thoughts lingered on Stefan, and deep down, I knew if we'd been found, surely it had been Stefan that had revealed us. Damon and Rose were right, it had all been too easy and now he had sent us all to our deaths.

There was a sharp pain in my chest. Stefan had betrayed us, betrayed me. I almost gave up the struggle as tears stung my eyes. Since I met Stefan, never, not once, not even when he was on human blood, did I believe he could hurt me, but I had been so severely wrong.

I should have told Damon about him sooner. Damon was right, the moment Stefan showed up, something should have gone off in my mind, and I should have never trusted him.

Another sharp pain tore through me at the thought of Damon. This would never have happened if Damon were here. We would all be safe. I had promised Damon repeatedly that I would stay safe, and now that promise would be broken. I would be taken to Klaus and sacrificed, and everything Damon ever did to protect me would be totally pointless. That made me fight harder, hoping that he would somehow know that I tried to escape, that I didn't martyr myself.

As I kept fighting, desperate to escape, another pair of hands wrapped around my shoulders, gripping me from the front, shaking me violently. My name was still being shouted louder over the piercing screams.

"Elena! Elena! Stop!" someone yelled. I couldn't stop; I had to help them all. I could feel sores form on my ankles as sharp nails dug into them, and in the back of my mind, I registered that the skin had been torn. My ankles were now wet with my own blood, and I could twist them now, the blood allowing me to gain something over my captors.

Twisting and pulling, kicking and banging, I was able to free my right leg, the tight grip unable to keep hold of my slippery ankle, and without thinking, I threw my leg out in front of me. My foot connected to some part of my opponent's body. I felt the sickening movement of skin beneath my foot, and a horrifying snap rang through the room.

Both my legs were free now, and I started kicking wildly, not seeing anything around me. The room was a blur of dark colors. I was beginning to feel dizzy from my thrashing and the whirlwind of colors, unable to make out anything surrounding me.

Suddenly everything stopped as a new pair of hands grabbed me, this time by the chin. My head could no longer move from the iron tight hold, and I was staring in to powerful green eyes.

"Elena, stop it," Rose said, and whether by compulsion or just the sheer intensity of her gaze, my movements stilled. Everything abruptly stopped, even the screaming. She held me for several long moments, her body leaning over mine, my chest heaving as I caught my breath, recovering from the screams that I hadn't known were my own.

Eventually she released me, standing, walking to the other side of the room, her hands on her hips. I looked around, finally seeing the room in clarity. Caroline was standing at the end of the bed, her hands bloody, gripping her left side, wincing, a messy red handprint on her white tank top. Bonnie was sitting next to me, her hands still holding my shoulders, concern written all over her face. A glance over my shoulder revealed Alaric, never releasing his grip on my elbows, his face etched with worry.

They were okay, all of them. There were no other vampires in the house, no danger. I had been so sure…

"What happened?" I asked quietly, confused by everything. Bonnie, Caroline, and Alaric all looked distraught. Rose looked like she was calculating, thinking deeply, her hand covering her mouth as she thought and paced the floor.

"You were screaming in your sleep," Bonnie said, my eyes shifting to her. "A couple of times in the night, you cried out, but it was only for a second. Then you just started screaming. We all ran up here, and you were tossing all around. We tried to wake you, but you started fighting us."

"What happened in your dream, Elena?" Rose asked. It was hard to read her face. All I could make out was the line between her eyebrows, the sign of her trying to deduce what had happened.

"What do you mean? Nothing happened," I said, unsure how she wanted me to respond.

"Nothing happened that could have caused you to scream like that? Was anything different in last night's dream from all the others?" she inquired further.

I thought for a moment, trying to recall the dream perfectly, but it was fading with wakefulness, still there but hardly clear. "Pain. Every time I touched Damon, there was pain… and this-this roar, like a train or a-a storm, and it-it said something, the roar was a voice." I searched my memory, but there was nothing, only the knowledge that it was there, no idea what it was or said. "I can't remember it exactly."

"What was the pain like?" Rose moved closer, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Like fire, like I was being burned, and tearing, there was a tearing at my chest."

Caroline looked at Bonnie, and Bonnie at Alaric, and Alaric at Rose. Rose just looked down at the floor, shaking her head. They kept glancing between each other and at me, but never meeting my eyes. I sat pressed up tightly against the headboard now that Alaric and Bonnie had released me. There was an ache in my back from where my shoulder blades had been smashed together and my entire body was in pain, but I ignored it to watch everyone around me.

"What?" I asked.

No one said anything. They just looked across the room, all their gazes aimed at the mirror in the corner. I followed their eyes, seeing the twisted reflection of something otherworldly. The bed sheets were tangled, the pillows thrown in different directions. There were dark red spots at the foot of the bed where my feet had been, dark pools of blood. My ankles were torn to pieces, lines where Caroline's nails had dug into my skin in her attempt to stop me. The ends of the jeans I hadn't bothered to take off the night before were pushed up below my knees. They were spotted with dark, crusty looking shapes that pulled painfully on my skin as I moved, and ugly red spots covered my legs. Taking my eyes from the reflection, I looked down at them. Little blisters were starting to bubble up on my skin. I gingerly touched a spot on my shin, and instantly pain ripped through my entire leg. There were burns all over my arms, too, and drying blood on my hands.

The blood horrified me, and I tried to rub it away, but it just spread. Franticly I ran to the bathroom, ignoring the pain in my entire body, the burns rubbing against fabric and themselves, my jeans pulling at sores that couldn't be seen, my ankles stinging with the movement of muscle and air on the exposed, open skin. I threw my hands under the running faucet, desperate to get the blood off me. I scrubbed at my hands until they were raw, ignoring the burns on the tips of my fingers and covering the palm of my right hand. The blood came off, but never seemed to stop; there was so much of it that it moved as a continual flow, like I would never remove it from my skin. Dark red chunks were wedged under my fingernails, and I fought to dig them out, desperate to make it all go away. With tears in my eyes, I looked up to the mirror above the sink. My hair was a tangled mess, like it had been repeatedly pulled at, blood on my scalp, clumps of my brown hair matted with dry blood. My eyes were red, tears flowing down to my cheeks, which were covered with small burns. My jaw was framed in burns, running from just below my ears down to the side of my chin and on to the sides of my neck, perfectly yet oddly symmetrical on both sides of my face. A long cut ran along the bottom side of my chin, a trail of already dried blood traveling from the end of the cut down my neck. I followed the path down to my blood-covered chest. Barely any skin could be seen under the almost black dried blood.

Without taking my eyes from the mirror, I reached for a washcloth and held it under the running water. Tenderly, I began to wash the blood away, starting at my chin, working down my neck, then slowly, carefully, I rubbed the blood off my chest. Every few seconds I had to stop because of the pain. It was excruciating, perhaps the worst thing I had ever felt in my life, but I kept going, wanting to know what lied underneath, what had happened to me.

Beneath the blood, long, deep lines ran horizontally with jagged edges across my chest. Slowly, I reached up and ran my fingers gently over them, barely brush the skin, but even that was enough to send dizzying pain through me. Then, with a moment of realization, I bent my fingers, creating claws, and perfectly, they fit into the grooves of my chest. Over and over, I had clawed at myself in my sleep, drawing my own blood, ripping at my skin, pieces of my chest still trapped under my nails, and now crooked lines ran from the middle of my chest to my shoulders.

I gripped the counter tightly, breathing shallowly, looking down at the rosy colored water in the sink. How could I have done this to myself, tear myself up, shred my own skin to pieces? Every breath I took sent a spark of pain through my chest, but I couldn't slow my breathing. I was practically hyperventilating. I didn't know what I had done to myself, how I could do something so awful to myself.

"Elena?" came Caroline's voice, breaking into my thoughts. I didn't turn to look at her, at any of them. I didn't want them to see me like this.

"Elena, are you okay?" Bonnie asked.

"What happened to me?" I asked quietly.

"You were thrashing across the bed so much before we came up here," Alaric stated in a grave voice. "You gave yourself friction burns, and we couldn't get you to stop clawing at your chest…"

Finally, I turned to them. Bonnie, Caroline and Alaric were all standing in the entryway, all looking concerned. Behind them, Rose was still pacing, a puzzled look across her face. I took a wobbly, painful step forward, and instantly, Alaric and Caroline were on each of my arms, holding me up, careful of where they placed their hands. Bonnie stepped forward, her hands in front of her, her brow furrowed with concentration, lips moving quickly and silently as they had done a few nights ago.

Slowly, the pain disappeared from my ankles, and for a moment, they felt like they weren't there. Then the blank feeling moved up my legs, pausing at each burn, steadily making its way up to my knees, higher to my thighs, advancing up my body at a controlled pace. Soon, I felt like everything was numb, like my entire body had fallen asleep. Then the same strange stretching feeling began, my skin sewing itself back together, my body tingling from my ankles to my scalp. Alaric and Caroline held me up the entire time Bonnie cast her spell.

When she stepped away, she gripped the wall beside her, as though she didn't have the strength to hold herself up. Her face was pale, and a sheen layer of sweat broke over her forehead. She was breathing shallowly, as if she couldn't catch her breath. I moved closer to her, but she smiled and waved me off, as if to say she was fine.

Reluctantly, I turned away from her to face Rose. She hadn't stopped her pacing, had barely even taken notice to anything going on around her. Stepping closer, I crossed my arms, wondering why she hadn't said anything.

"What happened to me, Rose?"

She turned to me, finally stopping her pacing. She looked troubled, pensive. "I don't know," she answered quickly.

"But you have an idea," I said, not allowing her to back away from the subject.

"They're just theories, but yes, I do," she sighed. She paused, pinching the bridge of her nose, stepping back and leaning on the edge of the bed. "Theory number one, and what I feel would be least likely, your connection with Damon is so strong you felt what he was feeling."

I thought it over a moment, not realizing that was possible with vampires. "I don't think so," I said dismissively. "Damon acted like he didn't know what was going on. If something was happening to him, he would have known if it was happening to me too."

"Plus, a vampire has to have a very strong, deep connection for that to happen. Usually, it can only happen when there is contact, though it's most common during blood sharing. As far away as he is, I highly doubt Damon has that kind of power."

"Theory number two?" I asked.

"Are you sure you want to know, Elena?" she inquired. "You're not going to like number two."

"I need to know everything, Rose. I could go to sleep tonight, and not wake up because I tore my own heart out.

Rose sighed heavily once again. "Stefan caused it." Before I could even process what she meant, she continued. "You said every time you touched Damon the pain came. Has that happened in any of your other dreams?"

I attempted to remember the other dreams, trying to recall anything unusual. I almost dismissed the idea, but then, I remembered the kiss. "No, but the night before last, Damon," I paused, catching a glimpse of Caroline and Bonnie off to the side. I hadn't told them about the kiss yet, and we always shared those things with each other, and I didn't want them to find out this way. "He leaned in closer to me, and I felt this pull inside me."

"Tell me exactly how it felt," Rose said.

"Like someone reached inside my chest and pulled me away, and then it was just gone when he stepped back."

Rose nodded her head, looking down thinking before she spoke again. "Did it only happen once?"

I shook my head. "Twice. The second time was stronger because I was fighting it."

"Where did Damon touch you last night? When did you feel the pain?"

I closed my, recalling the dream, reliving it from start to finish. "When he held my hand…"

"You had worse burns on the right hand," she stated.

"When he grabbed my chin..."

"The cut you had," she said as though she was taking a tally.

"When he cradled my face…"

"The burns on the sides of your neck and face…"

"When I touched his chest…"

"The burns on your fingertips…"

"When he held me…"

"The burns all over your body…"

We stared at each other, not entirely sure how to take the connection between the dream and reality. A chill ran through me as I realized everything that happened last night translated into real life, my real body. The dream pain was bad enough, but nothing compared to what I felt minutes ago, and it all came from my dream, my dream with Damon, a place I should be safe with him inside my own mind.

"But what about her chest?" Alaric asserted, breaking the silence.

"And her hair?" Bonnie added.

"At one point I was pulling at my hair trying to make it stop," I whispered. "And I felt the pain in my chest while we were holding hands."

"If it is Stefan who did this," Rose said, "he could have made you do that to hurt you where you were hurting him. Maybe your comment about tearing your own heart out wasn't far off the mark. You did say you felt the tug the night before last… The first full night Stefan was here… The night after he found out about the dreams… He could be trying to keep you away from Damon by hurting you because you're hurting him. And you said you couldn't remember the roaring sound in your dream perfectly, and the pulling in the other dream that just went away when Damon wasn't close. He's manipulating your memory and using you like a puppet."

I barely heard Rose's comments. Damon's voice was echoing in my mind, his warning. _If Stefan is on human blood, he can do things to your mind, influence you in ways you wouldn't know were possible. His influence would even be stronger than mine because he's closer to you. He could make you do things… _Gingerly, I touched my chest, where only moments ago had been deep claw marks. Could Stefan make me do this? Did he have that power over me? Suddenly, I realized he wasn't here. I had completely ignored his absence, but now it felt like a heavy weight. "Where is Stefan?"

"He didn't come back with us last night," Alaric answered. "He said he needed to hunt. We haven't seen him since."

"Did you find the other vampire?" I asked.

They all exchanged glances. "We don't think there was another vampire, Elena," he said. "We played it like there was with Stefan, but all the trails we found led right to the front of the driveway."

Tears welled in my eyes. "So it was Stefan…, and Stefan has been in my dreams too…" As I said it, a quiet voice came from the back of my mind, an unfamiliar voice. _It was Damon's pain. Stefan would never hurt you. Never hurt you… Never hurt you… _"But Stefan wouldn't hurt me," I said, as the voice kept repeating it over and over.

Everyone exchanged strange glances.

"Elena, what else could it be?" Caroline asked.

"Elena," Rose started, as if she could read my mind, "have you been hearing things?"

"No," I replied quickly with the voice's quiet encouragement. It was so compelling to listen to it, to let it do all the thinking for me, and despite its foreignness, I felt like I had heard it maybe once before.

Rose looked over to the side, then gave a very pointed nod to Bonnie. Bonnie only looked confused for a moment before she reached over, grabbed my necklace off the nightstand, and held it out in front of her silently.

"No, I can't," I said even before the voice could instruct me to deny the offer. _Vervain means no more Damon._

Rose snatched it from her. My eyes were slow to follow the movement, but the voice was screaming protests before I knew what was happening. I was powerless to stop it, left confused between the voice's commands and arguments and the quick movements of Rose's hands, and in a flash, the necklace was around my neck. Instantly, my mind was silent, was once again my own. My own head felt empty for a moment before my own thoughts came back to me. I gripped the side of my head as the emptiness hit me. Then I turned to look at everyone. They were all warily watching me, waiting for me to attack myself again, to defend Stefan, to do anything.

But it seemed understood that all was silent in my mind when I looked at them with clear eyes, though small tears welled in the corners. "What should we do?" I asked, not sure what else to say, what to do.

"We need to get rid of him somehow," Caroline said.

"If we do that, he could go back to Klaus and tell him where we are," Alaric sighed.

"If he doesn't already know…," Bonnie added.

"Well we can't go back to Mystic Falls," I asserted. "That would be the first place anyone would look for me."

"But we can't stay here as long as we know Stefan knows we're here," Rose commented.

"We need to find some way to get rid of Stefan, and then we need to relocate," I said.

While we all stopped to think of our next moves, Caroline looked down at her watch. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed suddenly breaking the silence.

"What?" I asked, worried.

"My plane leaves in few hours," she said.

"Plane? What plane?"

"I promised I would help Tyler through his transformation tomorrow night. Tomorrow is the full moon," she explained. "I got the tickets before we left Mystic Falls, and my plane leaves in a little over three hours."

"Um… are you sure that's the best idea?" I asked. "Mystic Falls isn't exactly the safest place right now Caroline."

"It's only for two nights. Tyler needs my help, Elena." She looked at me the way I was sure I looked at Damon and Stefan when we argued over whom to save, over whose life I held over my own. I knew I would never talk her out of going, and in the end, one of our friends needed her help, and that came before all else.

"Alright," I said, "I'll get dressed and I'll drive you to the airport."

"Uh, Elena?" Bonnie said quietly. "You should take a shower first."

I turned to the mirror and was once again met with my own shocking reflection. The cuts and burns no longer spotted my skin, but my hair was still matted with blood, pointing in all different directions like an evil creature of myths, and my skin was coated with dried, almost black colored blood. Yes, a shower was a priority. My fingers touched the edge of the blood on my chest. Most of it had already flowed down the sink, but there was still a thick layer everywhere. When I pulled away, my fingertips were stained red, a deep, threating red, a sign that my blood could be taken by more than just a vampire's fangs.

"Uh, yeah," I said still looking at my crimson fingertips, "I'll just take that shower."

Everyone hesitated for a moment, not sure they were willing to leave me alone, not sure if it would be safe, but I turned to them, wiping the blood on the leg of my already ruined jeans. "It's okay," I reassured them. I reached up and held the locket that held my vervain, that closed my mind to Damon. "Nothing can possess me as long as I have this on," I said with heavy sadness in my voice.

Once again, Damon was right; he was always right. First with Stefan, and now with the vervain. He could see that I would need it, but I wouldn't listen. In a way, even Stefan offered me a way to stay safe from his own mind control. He tried to give me the necklace back so my mind would be closed from his brother, but I refused it, and this was the consequence.

Stefan, my Stefan, the one that didn't hurt me, the one that only tried to keep me safe, had originally given it to me, though at the time I didn't know it, to protect my mind, as a way to know that my thoughts, choices and actions were always my own. He wanted to make sure that anything I did was not influenced by his brother or any other supernatural creature, but now, when I was without it, my mind vulnerable, he took advantage of it, made me attack myself, confused my thoughts.

Damon was right, he could do things to my mind that were unthinkable, but he was wrong on one point, it was worth it. Even as I felt the dry blood flaking under my fingertips, I knew seeing Damon last night was worth the pain of this morning. The damage Stefan did could be reversed, but time with Damon was scarce, and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that the time we had together may be limited, but I didn't want to acknowledge the part of me that feared that Damon's eternal life would be cut short. Instead, I clung to the hope that he would escape alive, that he would keep his promise to be here soon.

Slowly, everyone started to make their way down the stairs, continually asking if I was sure I was going to be okay. I waved their concerns off with a flash of the necklace. Everyone was down the stairs except Alaric, who lingered with an uncomfortable look on his face. His hand rested on the banister, and he looked me directly in the eye despite his uneasiness. "What are you planning on doing about tonight?" he asked with no further explanation.

"What do you mean?"

"Damon will worry when he can't reach you tonight, and that could lead to all kinds of things. He could try his escape plan too early, and that would mean things would just go wrong…, heavier security…, torture…, who knows?"

"I can't take the necklace off now Ric. Stefan made me…" I couldn't say it out loud. The words are too painful to say. Though there is nothing there anymore, I can vividly recall the feeling of my skin open to the air, pulsing with pain. I make a scratching gesture with my hand over my chest without touching the skin. Even after Bonnie's spell patched me back together and with the vervain on my neck, I am still afraid of what I could do to myself. "And a voice, Ric, there was a voice in the back of my mind, and it was so easy to just let it take control; it seemed like a part of me. I can't open my mind back up to that." My words hung in the air for a moment, and he looked at me pointedly. I sighed, "But you're right, I can't close it to Damon either, but I can't have both."

"I have an idea, but you won't like it," he said in a conspiratorial whisper.

"I haven't liked a lot of things this morning," I replied with a huff.

Alaric made no vocal response, but he reached into his back pocket and withdrew a vervain dart, holding it out to me with an insistent look. I took it, confused. "Vervain in my system won't solve any problems; it'll only make things worse."

"That's not for your system," he said as he turned and started walking down the stairs. "It's for Stefan's," he called over his shoulder before he disappeared into the downstairs.

The silver cylinder in my hand now felt like it weighed a thousand times more as Alaric's words sank in. If we didn't have to worry about Stefan, I wouldn't need the vervain, my mind could remain open. I turned the dart over in my hand, feeling it move, testing its weight, questioning my will. I stabbed Stefan with a dart similar to this one before, but then I was trying to save him from himself. I didn't know if I had the power to do it now. This time he didn't need to be saved, but I needed to be saved from him. I knew I had to, Ric was right when he said things would only go wrong when I didn't dream of Damon tonight, but I hadn't the slightest idea if I could follow through with it. He was still Stefan.

_A Stefan that tried to make you kill yourself_, my own mind whispered. _He has to be stopped._ I sighed, unable to continue my thoughts. I placed the vervain dart in my purse. Stefan wasn't here, I didn't need to think of this yet.

I turned on the shower, allowing the calming sound of running water to clear my mind. I peeled my clothes off, stiff from dried blood, wet from fresh sweat. I threw everything in the sink before I crawled into the shower, letting the hot water flow soothingly over my body, searing away the final traces of the gory morning. It was difficult to tell if my muscles were still fatigued from my struggle or if I was simply imagining the aches still there. The water flowed down my body to make a light pink puddle at my feet as the last remnants of blood washed away. Mindlessly, I washed my hair, gently running my fingers through it to work out the tangled kinks. I rubbed a sponge over every piece of my skin that I could reach to make sure all the blood was gone. I felt better with the mindless, mundane, routine actions, letting my mind think nothing of anything.

After a few minutes, I stepped out of the shower into the cool, foggy air of the bathroom and wrapped myself in a towel, feeling the material softly dry my skin. With one hand, I wiped the vapor from the glass above the sink, and silently, I looked at my body in the mirror. Bonnie's spell patched everything together, not a trace of anything ever being torn from its place. I ran my fingers lightly over my heart. I felt the strong beat beneath the tips of my fingers, my heart still there, still whole. I met my own gaze in the mirror with resolve. He was no longer my Stefan. He had to be completely gone to do this. I knew there was nothing left of _my_ Stefan, and I couldn't let this monster loose. He had to be stopped before tonight.

**A/N: Is anyone there? Does anyone remember me? I don't know how to begin to apologize for the **_**extremely**_** drawn out wait. I'm not sure there is any way to make up for my absence. However, I have been working diligently every chance I received to try to finish this chapter (sadly school rules my life), but the more I planned to put into this, the more I caused myself writer's block, so I decided to go ahead and just cut the chapter into two parts. I hope to have the next part up soon, and I would really love to have the next dream chapter up before I go back to school. I write so that I can get to the parts where I write Delena.**

**But anyway… I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season, I wish everyone a happy New Year. And I would really appreciate a review, even if it's just to tell me how awful I am for not updating. Also, you can follow me on Twitter at Vampiratess. Once again very sorry for my disappearance.**

**Please review.**


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